Austin, Texas. (Photo: Roschetzky Photography/Shutterstock.com)

Chicago-based intellectual property boutique McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff has launched an Austin office, hiring Jeffrey Toler and five other IP lawyers from his firm, Toler Law Group.

Toler is now chairman of McDonnell Boehnen's new transactions and high-tech litigation strategy practice group. He joined the firm on Oct. 1, along with Benjamin Johnson, Kenton Mullins, Melissa Vanessah Pace and Christopher Scurry. James Gauger joined the firm's Chicago office. All six are of counsel to McDonnell Boehnen.

Grantland Drutchas, managing partner of McDonnell Boehnen, said the Toler group's practice  "dovetailed very well" with his firm's and will allow McDonnell Boehnen to expand its litigation offerings. The lateral group represents Fortune 500 companies and private companies in IP strategy and patent monetization, according to its new firm.

"We've always had a very strong litigation practice in both life sciences and high-tech areas, but Jeff has been focused especially on the high-tech area," Drutchas said.

Toler said his firm had 13 lawyers before his group's move to McDonnell Boehnen, and several of the other lawyers have formed a firm under the leadership of Jason Moore to continue doing patent prosecution and related work. Moore did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Drutchas said talks with Toler began four or five months ago because his firm was looking to add lawyers with the skill set the Toler group brings to the table. Moving into the Austin market was a big plus, he added, because McDonnell Boehnen already does some work in Austin.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for us and I think what we wanted to do was make sure we started with a core that would sort of ensure success in the short term and then go from there," Drutchas said.

Toler said the Chicago firm's large stable of first-chair patent litigators was a big lure because his group had been hiring trial lawyers from other firms to assist with big litigation.

About two years ago, Toler transitioned his practice to litigation from prosecution and recently decided he needed to practice at a firm with strong litigation talent, he said. McDonnell Boehnen meets that requirement, and Toler said lawyers such as Drutchas will serve as lead trial lawyers on suits he and his group file.

"The market got more difficult for prosecution and I saw an opening both nationally and locally for litigation," noting that his firm has filed much of its litigation in U.S. District Court for the Western District before Waco Judge Alan Albright, who used to be an IP lawyer in Austin.

Toler, who formerly practiced at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati in Austin, formed his own firm in 2001. By 2016, he said, Toler Law Group had grown to about 25 attorneys, but that's  when the volume of patent prosecution work started declining and he and others at the firm began to do more litigation.

"Major changes in the law dramatically affected the U.S. patent market because it affected the value of the patent assets. It affected the demand," he said.

McDonnell Boehnen has offices in Chicago; Durham, North Carolina; and Mountain View, California.