Courtesy photo

Goodwin Procter continues its West Coast expansion with a pair of new California partners.

Steptoe & Johnson LLP partner Sanjeet Dutta joined the firm's technology practice as a partner in the Silicon Valley office. In San Francisco, Fox Rothschild counsel Nathan Schultz has joined as a partner in the firm's financial restructuring practice.

Dutta handles intellectual property matters in state and federal courts, as well as before the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Patent Trials and Appeals Board. He has worked with companies on patent prosecution involving blockchain, big data analytics, finance, cybersecurity, software security and other issues. He also advises companies on intellectual property issues in connection with technology transfers and licensing and mergers and acquisitions.

He began his career two decades ago at California-based Blakely Sokoloff Taylor Zafman, which merged with Womble Bond Dickinson in January 2018.

In 2004 he made the move to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, where he remained for nearly seven years as of counsel before jumping to King & Spalding as a partner in its Palo Alto office. He joined Steptoe in 2014.

Dutta said that his former Orrick colleague Neel Chatterjee enticed him to join the growing IP and technology practice in Silicon Valley.

Chatterjee made the move to Goodwin as a partner in its intellectual property practice in February 2017 after nearly 20 years at Orrick.

“He knew that it would be a good fit,” Dutta said. “I'm a geek and the clients that the team here ha[s] are companies that I have followed and am really excited to have the opportunity to work with as well.”

“We have seen an increase in demand for advisory and representation on strategic patent matters, including prosecution and portfolio development, counseling and due diligence—all areas in which Sanj has an outstanding track record,” Goodwin IP transactions and strategies practice co-leader James Riley said in a statement.

In San Francisco, the firm called Schultz “a true 'renaissance' restructuring lawyer” who will add “top tier, comprehensive bankruptcy experience and exceptional transactional and litigation skills to our practice,” according to a statement from Michael Goldstein, co-chairman of Goodwin's financial restructuring group.

Schultz works with investors, creditors, debtors and other parties across all aspects of the restructuring process for financially distressed businesses across a wide range of industries such as real estate, hospitality, health care, gaming and manufacturing.

“I am thrilled to bring a dedicated California presence to Goodwin's accomplished financial restructuring group,” Schultz said in a statement. 

The duo's addition marks the latest growth in Northern California for the Boston-founded firm.

In February Goodwin added Fenwick & West intellectual property partners Michael Shuster and Kevin Kabler in San Francisco and Sidley Austin corporate attorneys Deepa Rich and Sam Zucker in Silicon Valley. 

The firm is also set to open up a fourth outpost in the Golden State with a new office opening in Santa Monica this summer.