Brown Rudnick, which launched in Houston in June, has added a team of intellectual property trial lawyers from Bochner PLLC, led by partner Erick Robinson, who frequently uses litigation funding for his plaintiff's patent practice.

The team that joined Boston-founded Brown Rudnick on Monday also includes partners Jayme Partridge and Jayne Piana and counsel Patrick Dunn. Prior to joining Bochner in the summer, Robinson, Partridge and Dunn practiced at Spencer Fane in Houston, and Piana was at Fletcher Yoden in Houston, according to their Linkedin pages.

Vince Guglielmotti, CEO of Brown Rudnick, wrote in a press release that the team "fits perfectly with our strategic plan" to grow the firm's litigation team in Houston while also focusing on IP litigation and technology.

Ian DiBernardo, chair of the intellectual property litigation group, wrote that the group has a strong client base and substantial IP litigaiton experience, including in Texas.

"While we have litigated many cases there, we now have a significant presence on the ground in one of the most active jurisdictions for patent cases,” DeBernardo wrote.

The IP team is building out an office that launched in June with the hiring of Adam Schiffer, a founder of Houston trial boutique Schiffer Hicks Johnson, and expanded three months later with Michelman & Robinson partner Lauren Varnado. With the latest hires, the firm has grown to eight lawyers in Houston. The firm expects three associates connected to the patent trial group to soon join in Houston.

Robinson joined Spencer Fane in 2021 from Porter Hedges, because he wanted to practice at an entrepreneurial firm that was a good fit for his plaintiff's patent practice. However, during the summer, he and lawyers on his team left Spencer Fane after a client conflict arose and they moved to Bochner. Robinson said they moved again quickly to Brown Rudnick when the opportunity came up, because of its established patent trial platform and robust trial team.

"It's somewhere between a big firm and a boutique and it’s always been known as a top technology firm. It's always been known as a top litigation firm and now it’s one of the leaders in legal finance and specifically what I care about is litigation funding," Robinson said.

Robinson said he represents plaintiffs in patent infringement litigation against large companies including Meta, Sony, Samsung and Paypal, and 90% of his cases involve litigation funders.

While many firms say they like litigation finance, Brown Rudnick is a "true leader" in the area, Robinson said.

Andrew Bochner, managing partner of Bochner, did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the departures.