Read our latest coverage of patent law issues, from Silicon Valley to the U.S. Supreme Court.



“I was like a kid in a candy store,” Graham said. “I was already thinking of all the work I can give him and the influx of help I’ll be getting in my cases. Competition for talent is extremely stiff around here, and to have someone with Jim’s caliber, experience and expertise in our firm was exciting news.”

Graham could be forgiven for his enthusiasm. Not only did Dechert land Elacqua, who has 24 years of patent litigation experience, but the firm also managed to snag seven other Dewey IP partners and one senior associate. Hiring eight partners and a senior associate � all with extensive patent trial experience � is almost unheard of these days.

“Believe me, we know how blessed we are,” Graham said. “But at the same time, we can’t rest on our laurels because we know how competitive the market is for both the talent and the clients.”

Graham echoes the sentiments of many managing partners at firms looking to expand into or remain on top of the patent litigation market. The limited pool of attorneys with technical background and patent trial expertise has made the search for talent extremely frustrating.

For every major hiring coup a firm like Dechert achieves, there are Deweys ending up with near-empty outposts. Or worse, closing entire offices, like New York’s Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy did after losing IP partner James Pooley to Morrison & Foerster.

TALENT, TALENT, TALENT

There are many ways to build a successful IP litigation practice, but only two things are really important in this market: Getting the right talent and keeping it.

And this is true for all law firms, said recruiter Gary Davis of Patterson Davis Consulting. The dearth of IP talent has prevented many firms, regardless of size or reputation, from breaking into or completely dominating the highly lucrative patent litigation market.

The fact that firms as big as Dechert, with 900 lawyers, and New York’s Davis Polk & Wardwell, which recently hired Silicon Valley IP litigator Matthew Lehr from Latham & Watkins, are just starting out is a testament to how difficult an undertaking it is to build a patent litigation practice, Davis said.

“The growth in this area has been limited by the pool of qualified IP candidates, not by the interest or desire or workload of law firms,” Davis said.

So how can law firms attract and keep their IP talents? A key factor is the firm’s commitment to the practice, Davis said.

“There’s more to it than just bringing in a group,” Davis noted. “You have to invest in that group and you have to allow that group to become an integral part of the firm. A losing strategy is where you bring IP folks on board and then expect them to go out there and compete successfully without any firmwide effort to market the group and invest in whatever it needs.”

“Firms often go after the big-fish rainmaker without providing the support or investment for the big fish to put a team together,” Davis added. “IP litigation is a complex, lawyer-intensive practice, and it is difficult if you are a small IP team competing for clients against firms that can put forward a big, integrated team.”

Fred Herold, Dechert’s recruiting partner based in Palo Alto, is aware of the importance of integrating the new group with the rest of the law firm. He said the first thing the firm’s management did when Elacqua’s group arrived was to fly them out to several of Dechert’s 18 offices and introduce themselves to partners and clients.

“We talked to them about our IP management practice plan and the different client opportunities that we can offer them,” Herold said. “We’ve already involved the group in a number of client pitches and we’re not just cross-selling them to our clients but to other partners in other offices too.”

The firm’s new IP group should not have any problem keeping busy. For the longest time, Dechert’s clients � mostly in finance, real estate, pharmaceutical and technology � have been pushing the firm to represent them in complex patent litigation, Herold said. But the firm had difficulty finding good recruits, so it opened offices in San Francisco and Palo Alto in 2003.

“Our strategy for growth is mostly driven by practice group,” Herold said. “We don’t go where the clients are; we build [wherever] we can find great lawyers. We believe that great law firms become great law firms because of great lawyers.”

Davis Polk’s growth strategy is a bit different. The firm, which has 600-plus attorneys and is mostly known for its corporate practice, has shunned hiring lateral partners. But partner William Kelly, head of the firm’s Menlo Park office, said that in Lehr’s case the firm hired laterally to get the right expertise and gain credibility.

“The firm has a strong bias toward internal growth, which is not to say we are not going to hire qualified lateral partners,” Kelly said. “The firm understands that IP litigation is an expertise we need to have and we are committed to build an excellent group.”

Lehr, who’ll head the firm’s new IP litigation practice, said he is looking for highly capable fourth-year and fifth-year associates.

“We are looking to grow the practice organically with young associates and we are offering enormous opportunities for people who want to do work in this area,” Lehr said.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

New York’s Weil, Gotshal & Manges is one of the few successful general practice firms to have successfully broken into the high-end patent litigation practice by opening a Silicon Valley office.

It did exactly what Dechert is doing: Weil hired top IP litigator Matthew Powers from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and took two of his senior associates, who the firm quickly promoted to partner. Thirteen years later, the firm has grown its local IP litigation practice to 40 lawyers and a client list of some of Silicon Valley’s largest tech companies. Nationally, the firm has 105 IP litigators.

“Weil has done a really great job at showing commitment to the practice,” Davis said. “Not only did they look for associates, they also look for top lateral partners. Some firms would have just stopped at Matt Powers but they did not. That showed commitment and that attracts clients and talents.”

Other firms that have done well in the area, like Morrison & Foerster and Orrick, are those that have displayed consistency and patience, according to Davis.

“The firms that understand that this is a five- to 10-year investment and are the ones who will likely succeed,” Davis said.