Orrick's office in Menlo Park, California.

Just a few weeks after the sizable expansion in Texas, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe is poised to announce its addition of a new technology companies partner in Silicon Valley, as well as a pair of intellectual property lawyers in New York.

Ellen Ehrenpreis has joined Orrick from Silicon Valley's Edgewood Law Partners, a Palo Alto, California-based boutique she co-founded in 2016 with former Ropes & Gray partner David Saul.

“A primary impetus [in joining Orrick] was the desire and need for a larger platform for my client base,” said Ehrenpreis, a former partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, about her decision to move back to Big Law. “It is hard to fully serve thriving companies and sophisticated investors with a small boutique platform.”

Ehrenpreis is the 12th partner Orrick has hired for its global technology companies team within the past two years. The practice focuses on advising high-growth companies.

“Ellen will be a terrific counselor to our tech company clients,” said a statement from John Bautista, a Menlo Park, California-based partner in Orrick's technology companies group. “She brings a deep understanding of what it takes for founders to succeed and a valuable network of connections in the [venture capital] and startup community.”

Ehrenpreis, who spent more than a decade at Wilson Sonsini before starting Edgewood, has more than 20 years of experience counseling clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies, as well as executives, investors and advisers involved in the technology sector. She began her legal career in 1993 as an associate at Ropes & Gray.

“Orrick is keenly aware that, just as its clients are innovating to stay at the cutting edge of technology, it too needs to innovate to stay at the cutting edge of legal services,” said Ehrenpreis about her new firm, which a year ago this month set up shop in Los Angeles' Silicon Beach neighborhood. “There is an entrepreneurial spirit that runs deep throughout the firm and drives the firm's plan for innovation.”

The 940-lawyer Am Law 100 firm saw its gross revenue hit $974.6 million in 2017, an almost 5 percent increase from the year prior. Meanwhile, Orrick's profit per equity partner surged 10.9 percent last year, to $1.86 million.

In New York, where Orrick kicked of 2018 by absorbing local litigation boutique Morvillo, the firm added Arent Fox partners Paul Fakler and Eric Roman for its IP group as partner and counsel, respectively.

“Orrick has a real world-class capability and infrastructure for large complex litigation matters,” said Fakler, who joined Arent Fox in 2010 from Moses & Singer and for two decades has focused his practice on copyright litigation, representing clients such as Yahoo, Sirius XM Holdings, Music Choice, MP3.com and MediaNet Digital. “It is also a firm that is well-respected by the kinds of technology and new media clients that I represent.”

Fakler added that Orrick is likely to continue to grow its IP practice in New York due to the changing landscape of the media industry.

“There is no question that, where 35 years ago copyright tended to be a sleepier practice, the explosion in the size and complexity of the cases and the amount of money at stake has really changed that,” he said.

Orrick, which earlier this year confirmed the closure of a small office in Moscow, also announced Monday its addition of Amy Heading, a former pro bono director at DLA Piper in London, as its new head of international pro bono and community responsibility. Earlier this year, Orrick welcomed Watson, Farley & Williams private equity partner Paul Doris and Bird & Bird corporate partner Ali Ramadan in London, as well as Eversheds Sutherland arbitration expert James Hargrove as a partner in Geneva.