Shearman & Sterling Nabs McDermott IP Litigator
L. Kieran Kieckhefer will help the Wall Street firm expand its offices in the Bay Area.
September 20, 2018 at 07:04 PM
4 minute read
Shearman & Sterling in Washington, D.C.
Shearman & Sterling has added McDermott Will & Emery intellectual property litigator L. Kieran Kieckhefer to bolster both of its bases in the Bay Area.
Kieckhefer, who joined McDermott in 2014 after more than six years at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, will be a partner in Shearman & Sterling's offices in San Francisco and Menlo Park. Her practice focuses on advising clients in the technology and software sectors.
“Shearman provides me with the unique opportunity to join the rapidly growing technology and emerging growth practice in the Bay Area, which can provide clients with a deep and comprehensive bench and attentive service,” Kieckhefer said. “Their international platform is unparalleled and is crucial to fully service tech clients.”
L. Kieran KieckheferKieckhefer added that at her new firm she will have the opportunity to “play a key role in furthering gender diversity leadership roles.”
Shearman & Sterling recently promoted Sandra Bang, a longtime global director of legal talent development at the firm, to the new role of chief diversity and talent strategy officer. That move came just before Shearman & Sterling confirmed its plans to open a new office in South Korea and roll out a platform called the “FinTech Foundry” to service financial technology clients.
Kieckhefer started her legal career at Orrick as a summer associate in 2006. Over the years, she has handled complex patent, trade secret, copyright and breach of contract disputes for technology-focused clients. In 2016, Kieckhefer was part of a McDermott team that helped Israeli networking company Radware Ltd. score a $6.4 million jury verdict against a key rival.
Adam Hakki, global head of the litigation practice and a global co-managing partner at Shearman & Sterling, the latter role he assumed earlier this year as part of a leadership shake-up at the firm, said in a statement Thursday that the firm is thrilled to have Kieckhefer.
“[Kieckhefer's] trial experience in high-stakes IP cases is a strong next step in our strategic and thoughtful growth of our West Coast and global IP litigation practice, our Bay Area and Silicon Valley presence and our trial capability,” Hakki said in prepared remarks.
The addition of Kieckhefer continues Shearman & Sterling's effects to expand in the emerging growth and technology sectors, the firm said. In Silicon Valley, Shearman & Sterling hired IP transactions partner Emma Maconick from King & Spalding this summer. Maconick focuses her practice on cybersecurity and data privacy issues. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, Shearman & Sterling landed former Cooley partner Lyle Roberts for its litigation group in Washington, D.C.
Shearman & Sterling, an 853-lawyer firm based in New York, also launched two new offices in Texas earlier this year after bringing aboard a group of lawyers from what is now called Hunton Andrews Kurth in Austin, Texas, and Houston. The moves are part of an effort by the firm to grow its oil and gas practice.
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Shearman & Sterling Aims to Boost Diversity With New C-Suite Role
New Shearman & Sterling Initiative Banks on Clients' Fintech Needs
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