WASHINGTON — Three intellectual property litigators from Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, including the former chair of its patent litigation group, have joined Morrison & Foerster as partners in the firm’s Washington and Palo Alto, Calif., offices.

The group, which includes Alexander J. Hadjis, Kristin L. Yohannan and Rudy Y. Kim, concentrates on patent and intellectual property litigation before federal courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC), and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, with special expertise in semiconductors, computers, electronic systems, biotechnology, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Hadjis and Yohannon will be resident in Washington, and Kim in Palo Alto.

The group’s arrival boosts the firm’s ranks of the more than 100 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office-registered lawyers and increases its number of former Federal Circuit clerks.

Morrison & Foerster took on more than 70 new patent cases in 2007, including five appeals before the Federal Circuit. The firm’s ITC practice was recently ranked as one of the most active in the country.

“Our practice continues to gain technical talent and trial prowess with the addition of Alex, Kristin and Rudy,” said Steven Kaufmann, who chairs Morrison & Foerster’s 500-attorney global litigation department. “They provide a complementary addition to our roster of lawyers distinguished for their track record in handling patent litigation and major disputes in all other areas of intellectual property. We are particularly excited to further expand our presence in Washington, D.C.”

Hadjis, who serves as lead trial counsel before the federal district courts and the ITC in complex patent cases, frequently handles cases that involve the nexus of IP and antitrust law, along with industry technology standards disputes. Among his noteworthy trial wins, Hadjis applied an antitrust-based patent misuse defense against U.S. Philips Corp. in a case before the ITC involving recordable and rewritable compact discs.

Yohannan brings a strong mix of experience in patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret cases. She represents leading medical device, pharmaceutical, computer, semiconductor and biotech companies in patent infringement and abbreviated new drug application cases.

Kim, who like Hadjis has a degree in electrical engineering and is also a registered patent attorney, focuses on patent litigation and also advises high-tech companies in the acquisition and licensing of their intellectual property assets.

The Washington office recently added longtime patent litigator and IP transactional attorney Mark Ungerman, who previously headed the Washington IP practice and firmwide technology practice at Fulbright & Jaworski. Joining the Tokyo office earlier this spring was Yukihiro Terazawa, one of Japan’s leading technology transaction lawyers and international IP litigators.