Former Williams & Connolly patent litigation co-chair Kevin Hardy has left the firm to join Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan's Washington, D.C., office.

Hardy's tenure as practice leader at the Washington litigation powerhouse was short-lived. He landed in the role with two other partners after previous co-chair Adam Perlman left for Latham & Watkins in January. And he is the third practice leader to depart the firm so far in 2020, with the other being Nicholas Boyle, who co-led the unfair competition and trade secrets group and the arbitration group before also moving to Latham at the start of April.

"We are delighted to welcome Kevin to the firm. He has been lead counsel in a number of groundbreaking intellectual property disputes, including patent and royalty disputes, and has played key roles in antitrust cases that involve the intersection of intellectual property and antitrust law," Quinn Emanuel founder John Quinn said in a statement Wednesday. "Our intellectual property practice remains one of our most important practice areas, and we're gratified to add a talent of Kevin's caliber."

Hardy focuses his practice on licensing and enforcement of patents in wireless technology, as well as representing pharmaceutical clients in "pay for delay" cases, also known as reverse payment patent settlements.

"We thank Kevin for his years of dedicated service to our firm and our clients, and we wish him all the best," said Williams & Connolly former executive chairman Robert Barnett. Hardy spent his whole two-decade career at the firm following a Third Circuit clerkship.

"Quinn Emanuel's intellectual property practice is arguably the best in the world. Its reputation as the leading firm in IP and patent disputes made joining this team too appealing to resist," Hardy said in a statement.

The firm in February brought on board life sciences patent litigator Angus Chen in New York from boutique Haug Partners. That followed the January departure of California IP litigators Amar Thakur and Bruce Zisser to Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

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