As companies continue to downsize because of the tough economy, law firms are also susceptible, there are some companies that continue to thrive. There are law firms that have gone out of business due to the economy, or have merged with larger firms to remain in business, but some firms have decided to expand. The law firms that have decided to expand are typically opening brand new locations in parts of the country where they did not practice in the past. One of those firms is the law firm of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman.
Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman opened an office in the Silicon Valley, which was announced earlier this month, in an effort to increase the firm’s practice in the intellectual property industry. The intellectual property segment of the firm is chaired by Douglas Lumish, who is based out of Silicon Valley. Lumish will be the office managing partner for the firm’s location in the Silicon Valley. When the firm first opened its Silicon Valley doors, there were eight lawyers on the payroll that focus on intellectual property litigation.
Lumish joined Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman in January of this year from the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Lumish brought with him a group of lawyers that now make-up the eight lawyers working out of the Redwood Shores office that recently opened. The group in Redwood Shores also includes a first-year associate just recently hired by the law firm. Lumish revealed plans that Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman plan on expanded the Redwood Shores office to a total of 15-20 lawyers before the year 2012 is complete. At least three new lawyers will be added to the office in Redwood Shores within the next couple of months.
Lumish was trial counsel on high-profile patent litigation cases when at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. He served on cases for companies such as Oracle and Microsoft. Lumish said that Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman are currently handling pending patent litigation cases for Oracle, Skype, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Apple, Trimble, Yahoo and TransPerfect.
Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman enjoyed a year of improvements and expansion in 2011, and the year is capped off with the grand opening of the office in the Silicon Valley. The firm employs 375 lawyers and has offices in New York, Houston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Miami, Silicon Valley, and Newark. The firm’s intellectual property group has 30 lawyers. The lawyers hired from Weil, Gotshal & Manges was followed up in the month of May by the hiring of eight intellectual property lawyers from Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. This hire included the partner N.E.B. ‘Jack’ Minnear from New York. The hire also included partner John North from Atlanta, Georgia. Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan represented Gemstar-TV Guide International, Raytheon Company, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries previously.