General-service firms sharpened the competition in intellectual property law throughout 2014, hiring lawyers away from smaller firms and staking claims to an emerging practice area inside the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Multiple partners jumped from traditional IP shops Fish & Richardson and Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner to general-service firms including Paul Hastings; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; Cooley; and McDermott Will & Emery last year.