ArentFox Schiff has hired a trademark and brands team from Reed Smith to open an office in Silicon Valley.
The team is led by partner Jason Garcia and senior counsel Katy Basile and includes partner Justine Lee and Kat Kershner, who has made partner on the move. An ArentFox spokesperson told GLP the total group moving over was expected to be around 10 attorneys and paralegals.
Firm chair Anthony Lupo said Garcia and Basile had built “a powerhouse team of trademark professionals".
"The team brings complementary strengths that deepen our bench and expand our geographic reach. There’s no better group to anchor our new Silicon Valley office,” he added.
Alongside continuing to expand in IP, an ArentFox spokesperson said the firm would also focus on building corporate and real estate practices in Silicon Valley.
The office is the national US firm's first new physical location since the merger of Arent Fox and Schiff Hardin that created it in 2022. Later that year, it became the first major US law firm to launch a virtual office in the Metaverse, aimed at serving its digital assets and tech-focused clientele.
It will be the firm's third location in California after Los Angeles and San Francisco, which together have around 120 lawyers, including 14 in trademark and copyright practice.
The incoming team brings decades of collective experience advising brand owners, in-house counsel and executives on trademark and brand matters. Its core capabilities span global trademark strategy, digital brand protection, copyright registrations and protection, as well as related transactional matters, with ArentFox noting the group strengthened its ability to handle the full lifecycle of brand protection for clients across every major industry.
The three partners and Basile have all joined after more than a decade at Reed Smith, before which Garcia and Basile worked together at Howrey and IP firm Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg. Garcia also had a stint in-house at eBay, while earlier in her career Basile worked at Intel Corporation and Levi Strauss.
ArentFox grew revenue nearly 6% last year to $666m, according to data published by Law.com, while profit per equity partner jumped 19% to $1.7m amid a 2% decline in the equity partnership fuelled by several retirements.
Other recent entrants to Silicon Valley include Eversheds Sutherland, which hired Baker McKenzie partner Bradford Newman as US head of complex texhnology disputes to open there last year.
Earlier this month, Japanese Big Four firm Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu also said it would open in Silicon Valley to capitalise on growing demand for legal advice on Japan-US transactions and investment on the West Coast.
A Reed Smith spokesperson commented: “Reed Smith had a record year in 2025 and has added more than 100 new lawyers in 2026, with particularly strong performance and significant growth across our litigation, disputes, trial and IP practices.
"As we continue building on that momentum, we remain committed to our strategic growth priorities in California and across our global platform. We thank Jason Garcia and his colleagues for their contributions to the firm.”
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