N.Y. IP Boutique Desmarais to Open in San Francisco
Founding partner John Desmarais says the move, which will be effective in December, is motivated by clients and the search for talent.
October 18, 2018 at 07:29 PM
2 minute read
John Desmarais.
Desmarais LLP is moving west.
The IP litigation boutique founded in 2010 by John Desmarais will open a San Francisco office this December. The 57-lawyer firm has negotiated a lease at 101 California St. and will start by relocating a few attorneys from its New York home base. John Desmarais took the California bar exam last February and will split his time between the two offices, he said this week.
Desmarais identified two primary reasons for the expansion. The first is Silicon Valley clients such as Apple Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp. “It just makes sense to be closer to them,” he said.
Second is recruiting. “All of the talent coming out of Stanford and Berkeley, it's so strong,” he said. Often those graduates “like to stay in the area.”
Desmarais was a Kirkland & Ellis litigator before establishing Desmarais and the patent holding company Round Rock Research. The firm has asserted patents on behalf of large owners—it recently won an $82.5 million jury verdict for IBM against Groupon (subsequently settled for $57 million). The firm also regularly defends big tech companies accused of patent infringement.
Desmarais is known for eschewing the billable hour in favor of flat, monthly fees tailored to the matter. The firm also pays associates $20,000 above the big New York law firm scale. Desmarais has focused mostly on high tech cases, but this week announced the addition of two life sciences partners from Sidley Austin.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Apple Agrees to Pay $95 Million Settlement in Siri Voice Assistant Privacy Class Action
Anthropic Agrees to 'Guardrails' for Its AI Training to Protect Copyrighted Lyrics Pending Fight Over Fair Use
5 minute read
Texas Insurer Slaps Hinshaw & Culbertson With Legal Mal Claim Over $11 Million Personal Injury Jury Award
3 minute read
US Courts Announce Closures in Observance of Jimmy Carter National Mourning Day
2 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Litigation Leaders: Jason Leckerman of Ballard Spahr on Growing the Department by a Third Via Merger with Lane Powell
- 2Arguing Class Actions: Manifestation Redux
- 3In Free Agent Lateral Era, Big Law Has 'Entire Teams Dedicated to Identifying' Top Talent
- 4Public Notices/Calendars
- 5Monday Newspaper
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
