Jonas Hodges, left, and Sheree Rowe, right, partners with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch.

Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch has snagged a seven-attorney team of patent attorneys from Arent Fox, including two partners, to continue building its IP practice.

Procopio, a San Diego-founded Am Law 200 firm, hired Jonas Hodges and Sheree Rowe as intellectual property partners in the Palo Alto and Orange County offices, respectively. Previously, the two practiced at Washington, D.C.-based Arent Fox for more than a decade, where Hodges had been a partner since 2014 and Rowe since 2015.

Procopio hired five other IP attorneys from Arent Fox, including Gregory Boger, Eric Figueroa, Jin-Hoon Lee, Anchit Kapoor and Jason Drake. They joined as associates in the Orange County office.

While much of the legal industry took austerity measures this year amid the pandemic, Pattric Rawlins, the firm's IP team leader, said Procopio is invested in hiring as part of its long-term growth plan. The discussions with Hodges, Rowe and the associate group began after stay-at-home orders were enacted across the country in mid-March, Rawlins said, adding the recruiting and hiring process was totally virtual.

"We've continued to grow over the last seven to nine years, and this move fits in what that existing growth pattern," he said. "The situation is very dynamic, and things changed completely when COVID happened and the shutdown took place. But that doesn't really change our strategy, although onboarding new people and lateral hires has been somewhat more complex without being able to onboard people in a physical office."

He said the coronavirus did not upend expansion plans, especially when it came to adding building its new Orange County office, which opened March 10, just before much of the country shut down.

"We have IP team attorney spread out in California—from San Diego, where we're headquartered, up to Silicon Valley," Rawlins said. "Adding this group in the more central Orange County area is going to be a real benefit to the team, and their technology focus is a perfect blend with the existing strength the IP team already has. The hires really add breadth and depth to our group."

Last October, the IP group added life sciences partner Xiaofan (Frank) Yang in San Diego from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati.

Procopio debuted at 199th on the 2017 Am Law 200 with $93 million in revenue in 2016. its revenue peaked in 2018 at $118.4 million and fell slightly last year to $116.7 million. The firm, with about 170 lawyers, ranked 189th on this year's Am Law 200.

Hodges represents Fortune 500 companies and large Chinese companies with patents involving 5G NR, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, transistor layout, digital circuits, neural networks, lithium-ion batteries and medical devices. His practice focuses on preparation, prosecution and infringement and invalidity opinions across electrical, mechanical and tech companies.

Rowe's practice involves the preparation and prosecution of patent applications and client counseling for patent matters involving various electrical, mechanical and software technologies. She has worked with 5G NR, 4G LTE, electric display devices, lasers, particle accelerators, electric vehicle technology, video production equipment and medical devices. She was previously a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The group departed from Arent Fox after the pandemic forced the firm, like many others, to cut expenses. After a healthy 2019 where it brought in a record $326 million, the firm in April reportedly instituted various cost-cutting measures, including 25% pay cuts for associates and staff and a 60% reduction in equity partner distributions.

Representatives for Arent Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the group departure.

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