Perkins Coie's office in Washington D.C. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)Perkins Coie Opens in Austin With Vinson & Elkins, Wilson Sonsini Partners
It's the second Texas location for Perkins Coie, which has been in Dallas since 2010.
February 13, 2020 at 09:28 AM
4 minute read
A decade after launching its Texas presence in Dallas, Perkins Coie is expanding southward with an office in Austin as large firms from all over the country eagerly snap up talent across the Lone Star State.
Dean Harvey, managing partner of Perkins Coie's Dallas office, said the firm expanded into Austin because it is a market that suits the firm's strengths in technology, intellectual property and venture capital.
The Am Law 50 firm launched the Austin office on Thursday with three partners—Andy Smetana and Craig Tyler from Vinson & Elkins, who were counsel and partner respectively at their former firm, and Jose Villarreal, who was a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
Additionally, Wendy Wang, who was also counsel at Vinson & Elkins, is joining Perkins Coie as a partner in Palo Alto.
Smetana represents emerging companies and investors in the technology sector, and is former general counsel for Vapor IO in Austin. Tyler is a trial and appellate lawyer who litigates trade secrets matters as well as patent infringement and validity matters. Villarreal advises technology and growth companies and does patent litigation. Wang also does IP litigation.
According to Harvey, the Austin office has been a couple years in the making, as the firm refocused on Texas after years of expansion on the East Coast.
He said the lawyers brought on to open the Austin office bring practices and experience that fit precisely into the firm's strategic focus on technology. Hiring will continue, with a health care partner expected to join soon. And the firm will continue to build out practices including early-stage, M&A, patent litigation, privacy and security and technology in Austin, he said.
Villarreal said he looks forward to helping Perkins Coie build its Austin operation, because the firm is "coming with a lot of energy and enthusiasm." He said its strong IP practice firmwide will bolster his own patent litigation practice.
The former Vinson & Elkins lawyers were not immediately available for comment. Villarreal said Tyler and Smetana are former Wilson Sonsini colleagues.
The litigator declined to identify his clients, but said they include software companies. According to online court records in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, an important venue for patent litigation, Villarreal has represented Revel Systems, Technomedia Talent Management, Allied Telesis and MongoDB.
When asked for a comment on Villarreal's departure, a Wilson Sonsini spokesperson said in a statement: "We thank Jose for his contributions to the firm and our clients, and wish him well."
Mark Kelly, chair of Vinson & Elkins, said in a statement, "We thank Craig, Wendy and Andy for their contributions to the firm and wish them well in this new endeavor."
Perkins Coie has 30 lawyers in Dallas. Austin will be the 20th office for the Seattle-founded firm.
Austin has also been an increasingly hot spot for litigation in the last year. In 2019, Austin saw the largest gains in new cases added to district courts in 2019 compared with other big Texas cities, according to a recent report by Texas Lawyer.
As for further expansion in the hot Texas market, Harvey said the firm has no short-term plans to add an office in Houston.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that a partner from another Perkins Coie office will be transferring to Austin.
|Read More
What's Happening in Austin? Court Statistics Show Litigation Spike in Texas Metro
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Law Firms Shrink From 'Performative' Statements
6 minute read
Norton Rose Lawyers Accused of Accessing Confidential Material in Internal IT Probe
3 minute readLaw Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
- 1High-flying Genetics Testing Firm GeneDx Hires Ex-Zoetis GC as Legal Chief
- 2Manhattan Prosecutors Say They Will Oppose Efforts by Trump Legal Team to Dismiss Case
- 3Deposing Former Mayor Bill de Blasio; Misrepresentations To Induce Investment: This Week in Scott Mollen’s Realty Law Digest
- 4Which Outside Law Firms Are Irreplaceable, and Which Should Have Gotten the Ax Years Ago?
- 5Two Tesla Shareholder Cases in Del. Chancery Court Consolidated
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
