Nancy Mertzel, chair of the intellectual property practice at Herrick, Feinstein, is leaving Big Law and setting up her own solo shop in Manhattan.

“I really felt like starting my own firm would enable me to really take better care of my clients, to really focus on what they need without having to deal with [the] things that go along with being a part of a big firm,” Mertzel said. “So I just felt that now is the time.”

Mertzel Law officially opened for business earlier this month, providing IP and regulatory counseling to Mertzel's longtime clients that range from startups to Fortune 100 companies. She joined Herrick in late 2015 after three years as a partner at women-owned Schoeman Updike Kaufman & Stern, now called Schoemman Updike Kaufman & Gerber after former name partner Mindy Stern left last year to join New York's Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas.