Cozen O'Connor, an Am Law 100 firm on an expansion kick in 2018, is growing again in the Pacific Northwest by bringing on a pair of intellectual property partners in Seattle from the Seed IP Law Group.

The new hires, Frank Abramonte and Lorraine Linford, join Cozen O'Connor only a few months after the firm opened an office in nearby Vancouver. After nearly 18 years at Seed IP, a Seattle-based boutique, Abramonte said he was drawn by the opportunity to help Philadelphia-based Cozen O'Connor build out its IP practice on the West Coast.

“My practice has expanded well beyond the Seattle region,” said Abramonte about his reasons for moving to Cozen O'Connor. “I do a large amount of work out of the Vancouver, [British Columbia,] area, out of the Bay Area, Toronto, Los Angeles and on the East Coast in New York, Boston and Cambridge, [Massachusetts]. Cozen just offers a much wider platform.”

Frank Abramonte

Historically, patent-related work in Seattle tends to go to smaller firms in the region, Abramonte explained. But that has changed in recent years as more general practice firms start to develop their IP capabilities.

“General practice firms [noticed] there was a lot of revenue that could be had, and they felt like they could integrate with the client business more,” Abramonte said. “As businesses became more high-tech, the intellectual property and particularly the patent side was fundamental to the value of the business.”

Abramonte noted that he was approached by a number of “general practice” firms over the years but decided to join Cozen O'Connor primarily because of the firm's cultural fit, as well as fewer client conflicts.

“Seattle has long been a center for innovation across a wide range of industries—and the city is home to leading brands known around the world,” said Linford in a statement. “Moving to a firm with a national footprint gives each of us a larger legal platform with substantially greater resources from which to draw. We'll be able to grow our practices further, while also helping Cozen O'Connor grow its IP practice.”

With the addition Linford and Abramonte, Cozen O'Connor's Seattle office, where the firm first set up shop in 1985, will be its fifth-largest with more than 30 lawyers. Firmwide, Cozen O'Connor has 49 IP lawyers involved in the practice.

“Like so many on our IP team, these attorneys bring a strong technological/scientific pedigree—in this particular case a range of important engineering disciplines,” said a statement from Camille Miller, co-chairwoman of Cozen O'Connor's IP department.

Abramonte specializes in patent procurement and patent portfolio strategizing in electrical, software, electro-mechanical engineering and medical device-related technologies. In addition to his years as a patent lawyer, Abramonte also has four years of industry experience as an engineer at The Boeing Co., which used to be based in Seattle.

Lorraine Linford

Linford focuses on helping clients in the U.S. and other countries develop comprehensive IP strategies across various fields and technologies, including mechanical and aeronautical engineering, automotive, apparel, software and personal care products. Besides earning a law degree from the University of Washington, Linford also has a degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering.

The addition of the two IP lawyers in Seattle comes only a few weeks after Cozen O'Connor hired Susan Grueneberg, a former chairwoman of the franchise services group at Snell & Wilmer, to lead its global franchise practice from Los Angeles. Cozen O'Connor has also been busy expanding in other regions, bringing on a team of lawyers from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney to bolster a relatively new office in Pittsburgh and hiring Miguel Pozo, a former head of litigation at Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, from Duane Morris to grow in Minneapolis.

In 2015, Cozen O'Connor acquired Chicago firm Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson to enhance its operations in the Midwest. Brian Bulger, a former name partner and co-founder of that firm, died in June.