Longtime Fish & Richardson litigator Katherine Vidal is leaving the intellectual property-centric firm to spearhead Winston & Strawn's ambitions in Silicon Valley.


Kathi Vidal.

Vidal will join 800-lawyer Winston as managing partner of its Menlo Park, California, office and is expected to become a member of the firm's executive committee. Vidal said she will miss Fish after 20 years at the firm's Silicon Valley office, but is determined to do big things at Winston, a global full-service firm that's a relatively new entrant to the region.

“Silicon Valley is its own culture. You can't import that culture and that thinking,” Vidal said in an interview. “I don't think it works for companies. I don't think it works for startups. I don't think it works for law firms.”