Michael Songer. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

Michael Songer has joined White & Case as partner in Washington, D.C., from Crowell & Moring's intellectual property group.

Songer said Thursday he was having a “whirlwind” first day at White & Case after 15 years at Crowell, where he previously held leadership roles in the firm's litigation department and IP group. He said his decision to move was motivated by the opportunity at his new firm and not part of a search that included considering other firms.

“For me, it's really an opportunity to use the global reach of White & Case across all the countries that are out there,” Songer said. “The IP area and the trade secret area have been exploding worldwide.”

Dimitrios Drivas, leader of White & Case's global intellectual property practice, said in a statement that the firm saw an increase in trade secret cases last year and expects the rise in such litigation to continue in the future—just in time for Songer's arrival.

Songer's practice involves representing U.S. companies in litigation related to trade secrets, and he identified Europe and Asia as regions where he expects the practice to be particularly active. He said new legislative proposals in Europe would contribute to the growth and suggested opportunities would develop in China, Korea and Japan as well.

In the U.S., Songer made headlines for working with co-counsel at McGuireWoods to score a $920 million jury verdict in 2011 for DuPont in a trade secrets case over its Kevlar product. Songer declined to comment on any clients and colleagues making the move with him to White & Case. In addition to DuPont, Songer's past clients have included Hewlett-Packard, Viacom, Sprint, LucasFilm and others.

White & Case boasts more than 100 IP lawyers across its offices, including 15 based full- or part-time in Washington. Six longtime IP partners left the firm last summer for Fenwick & West, setting down roots at the Silicon Valley firm's Manhattan office. The sextet spent at least a decade together at White & Case, focused mainly on life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotech and tech companies in patent litigation.

Songer's addition is part of White & Case's effort to strengthen its intellectual property practice moving forward, said Jack Pace, head of the firm's competition section for the Americas, in a statement.

“Expanding our capabilities to advise in the technology industry is a pillar of our 2020 strategy, and Mike's addition supports this goal while complementing our strong existing practice,” Pace said.

Songer also teaches as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in D.C., lecturing on trademark, copyright, privacy, cybersecurity and internet law. He has been teaching at Georgetown since 1999 and also holds an engineering degree from Notre Dame and a law degree from Duke University.