Intellectual Property in NYC Big Law firms Forum

[Anonymous User]

I've been looking at firms in NYC, and it seems that many don't have their IP practices on NALP, but claim to do IP on their firm pages.

I've looked at Chambers, but I'm wondering if other firms that aren't on Chambers are worth bids at OCI?

I'm looking mostly at patent, and not at boutiques.

[Julio_El_Chavo]

I've been looking at firms in NYC, and it seems that many don't have their IP practices on NALP, but claim to do IP on their firm pages.

I've looked at Chambers, but I'm wondering if other firms that aren't on Chambers are worth bids at OCI?

I'm looking mostly at patent, and not at boutiques.

Why are you looking at NYC? Family/personal ties? Are you willing to look at other regions?

[thesealocust]

Can't help you with finding solid pure IP practices in NYC, but I can tell you that the groups at most big firms are generalists to do things like support large transactions. Random clients merging and throwing off IP issues, etc. I don't think most of the 'top' NYC firms do much pure patent lit / prosecution work out of NYC, if any. There could be some though, I really don't know.

[Julio_El_Chavo]

Can't help you with finding solid pure IP practices in NYC, but I can tell you that the groups at most big firms are generalists to do things like support large transactions. Random clients merging and throwing off IP issues, etc. I don't think most of the 'top' NYC firms do much pure patent lit / prosecution work out of NYC, if any. There could be some though, I really don't know.

Credited.

Also, if you want to work in a practice group with more than a few doods and have a steady supply of IP transactional and/or lit work, you should consider looking at firms in Silicon Valley (the NYC of IP). You can move anywhere you want after working in SV for a few years, including NYC.

[sbalive]

There's plenty of patent lit going on in New York. Some practices like Kirkland & Weil have suffered some defections over the past few years (or even more recently), but you might want to check out Paul Weiss. And, Ropes of course, which took over Fish & Neave a few years ago. Some people have left Ropes too though, as the culture changes. Anyway, that's tip of the iceberg; you'll find substantial patent lit work at many New York biglaw firms, and I'd say there's more life sciences work in New York than there is in the Bay Area.

Also, calling Silicon Valley the "NYC of IP" is inaccurate, unless you mean the "NYC of EE/CS-related IP."

[seriouslyinformative]

There's plenty of patent lit going on in New York. Some practices like Kirkland & Weil have suffered some defections over the past few years (or even more recently), but you might want to check out Paul Weiss. And, Ropes of course, which took over Fish & Neave a few years ago. Some people have left Ropes too though, as the culture changes. Anyway, that's tip of the iceberg; you'll find substantial patent lit work at many New York biglaw firms, and I'd say there's more life sciences work in New York than there is in the Bay Area.

Also, calling Silicon Valley the "NYC of IP" is inaccurate, unless you mean the "NYC of EE/CS-related IP."

It's interesting that you talk about Kirkland, Weil, and Rope defections, and then recommend a firm (Paul Weiss), whose IP practice is still relatively non-existent despite recent additions. The former three firms, while not as strong in IP in NY as they used to be, are still leaps and bounds superior to Paul Weiss. And the former three are the only full service firms with strong IP practices in NY (Quinn too, if you consider them "full service"). The rest of the strong IP practices tend to be in the boutiques.

[Anonymous User]

Do SV firms requires ties to the area? I've never been to California.

I already hit the city I'm aiming for at Loyola Patent fair, I'm just looking for somewhere to throw my OCI bids. I figured NYC would be good because it doesn't usually require ties.

I did much better at big firms than boutiques at Loyola because a pretty poor UGPA. I am EE btw.

[Julio_El_Chavo]

There's plenty of patent lit going on in New York. Some practices like Kirkland & Weil have suffered some defections over the past few years (or even more recently), but you might want to check out Paul Weiss. And, Ropes of course, which took over Fish & Neave a few years ago. Some people have left Ropes too though, as the culture changes. Anyway, that's tip of the iceberg; you'll find substantial patent lit work at many New York biglaw firms, and I'd say there's more life sciences work in New York than there is in the Bay Area.

Also, calling Silicon Valley the "NYC of IP" is inaccurate, unless you mean the "NYC of EE/CS-related IP."

Yes, I was referring to EE/CS work. It looks like OP is an EE. Every partner I've spoken with in SV (20-25 firms worth of IP partners) says that SV is where new EE/CS IP attorneys should start because it opens more doors (on average) than other regions in the country, including NYC.

[Julio_El_Chavo]

Do SV firms requires ties to the area? I've never been to California.

I already hit the city I'm aiming for at Loyola Patent fair, I'm just looking for somewhere to throw my OCI bids. I figured NYC would be good because it doesn't usually require ties.

I did much better at big firms than boutiques at Loyola because a pretty poor UGPA. I am EE btw.

If you're an EE, they won't care too much about ties to the region. That was true in my experience.

[Anonymous User]

There's plenty of patent lit going on in New York. Some practices like Kirkland & Weil have suffered some defections over the past few years (or even more recently), but you might want to check out Paul Weiss. And, Ropes of course, which took over Fish & Neave a few years ago. Some people have left Ropes too though, as the culture changes. Anyway, that's tip of the iceberg; you'll find substantial patent lit work at many New York biglaw firms, and I'd say there's more life sciences work in New York than there is in the Bay Area.

Also, calling Silicon Valley the "NYC of IP" is inaccurate, unless you mean the "NYC of EE/CS-related IP."

As someone who used to work in Kirkland NYC in IP lit, a ton of their heavy hitters went with Desmarais, including some of their hardest working and best to learn from associates. Bondor and Stadnick, two other NYC Kirkland IP lit big dogs, went with him. I wouldn't focus on Kirkland NYC for IP lit, at the very least.

[jarofsoup]

Bit off topic but isen't Palo Alto and SF the IP hot spot?

[Julio_El_Chavo]

Bit off topic but isen't Palo Alto and SF the IP hot spot?

For EE work, nowhere else compares with Palo Alto (and to a lesser extent SF). Life science work is more spread out with a lot of it in SoCal, NYC, and other assorted places.

[fatduck]

Yes, I was referring to EE/CS work. It looks like OP is an EE. Every partner I've spoken with in SV (20-25 firms worth of IP partners) says that SV is where new EE/CS IP attorneys should start because it opens more doors (on average) than other regions in the country, including NYC.

how would you compare SV and DC for someone interested in EECS-related lit work?

[Julio_El_Chavo]

Yes, I was referring to EE/CS work. It looks like OP is an EE. Every partner I've spoken with in SV (20-25 firms worth of IP partners) says that SV is where new EE/CS IP attorneys should start because it opens more doors (on average) than other regions in the country, including NYC.

how would you compare SV and DC for someone interested in EECS-related lit work?

SV is kind of a never ending spring of EECS lit work. From the partners I spoke with at the 40 firms I interviewed with, DC's IP lit market has struggled, comparatively speaking (see, e.g., Howrey). I have no ties to the bay area and got 80% offers from my SV callbacks and 33% offers from my DC callbacks and I was interested in IP lit.