Foley & Lardner has increased its IP litigation capacity in Los Angeles, the firm announced Monday, bringing on a partner from Winston & Strawn who was a co-leader of that firm's class action practice.

Stephen Smerek will focus mainly on California matters in his new role at Foley & Lardner. Most recently a 14-year partner at Winston & Strawn, where he was co-chair of the class action practice and vice-chair of the eDiscovery and information governance practice, Smerek said he was seeking a larger platform to grow a few specific areas of his practice.

"Foley gave me the opportunity to expand two aspects of my practice: consumer class action, where the firm has a nationwide base and I can focus on California litigation, and the firm also had a presence in the patent litigation space and an overall strong IP background," he said. "I identified Foley as an excellent opportunity for me to expand my practice and be a part of something that has had a lot of success nationally—and, specifically on the litigation side, in southern California—at a time that was ideal for me."

Jeffrey Atkin, managing partner of Foley's Los Angeles office, said the firm's bread and butter lies in three primary departments—litigation, IP and corporate—and the L.A. office has a deep bench in all three. In Smerek, Atkin saw an opportunity to add an attorney to Foley's roster with expertise in multiple key areas.

"In the last three years, we've been growing successfully—both laterally and organically—and we have a historically strong IP practice," he said. "We specifically looked for an IP litigator who was a hybrid to bridge those practice areas."

"Steve's experience dovetailed nicely with what we were looking for," Atkin added.

Smerek has more than two decades of experience in IP and commercial litigation, with a particular focus on pharmaceutical patent litigation and consumer class actions. He's represented clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, technology, retail, consumer products, banking and financial services industries.

Smerek declined to name any of his clients, but he said he expects most to make the move with him to Foley, and that so far the news of his move has been well-received.

He said he does not see his practice mix changing, but he's expecting to grow both the IP and litigation sides of his practice thanks to the cohesion between Foley's offices and its emphasis on having a national practice. Specifically, he identified growth opportunities for the firm's California class action practice.

More broadly, Atkin said Smerek's hire fit into the firm's overall growth strategy, and that it was focused on building out practice areas that were already strong. For the California outpost, this means investing in healthcare, IP and commercial class action litigation.

"In the near term, we'll keep expanding those teams, not just in L.A., but across the state," Atkin said.

Firmwide, growth efforts seem to be paying off: Foley saw large gains a year after its merger with Dallas-based Gardere Wynne Sewell, which brought the firm's footprint to 24 offices in Mexico, Asia, Europe and the U.S. Post-merger, it was ranked 48th in 2019′s AmLaw 200 and boasted more than $836 million in revenue last year, according to ALM Legal Intelligence data.

As Smerek settles into his new position, he has an eye on a few trends he's noticed in his practice area. He's noticed a shift in class action cases away from statutory claims and to more general California Business & Professions Code §17200 consumer fraud claims. He said he sees this happening in consumer products, financial services, automotive, cosmetics, and other industries, and that this will likely continue.

"I also envision that fallout of new privacy and data laws in California will spark a wave of litigation over the next 18 to 36 months," he said.

Winston & Strawn did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Smerek's departure.