Holland & Hart has boosted its patent offering in Denver with a three-partner team hired from Ashurst Perkins Coie.
Amanda Tessar, David St. John-Larkin and Daniel Keese deepen Holland & Hart's ability to represent tech companies in "high-stakes, business-critical patent matters nationwide", the firm said.
They will be joined in the coming weeks by of counsel Matt Pierce, associate Trevor Bervik and a paralegal.
The team brings patent litigation capabilities across federal district court litigation, International Trade Commission investigations, Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings and standards-related disputes, along with counselling on licensing, transactions and portfolio development.
Each of the partners had practised at legacy Perkins Coie for more than a decade prior to its $2.8bn merger with UK firm Ashurst in June, and they bring collective experience across technologies including semiconductors, software, AI, cloud computing, medical devices, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing.
The team's move continues a string of lawyers migrating from Perkins Coie to Holland & Hart, including environmental partners Christopher Thomas and Andrea Driggs, who made the move last year to open the national firm's 15th office in Phoenix, Arizona.
Back in 2022, a 10-strong trademark team defected across Boulder and Denver, with the latter office boosted recently with the hire of IP disputes partner Elizabeth Manno – herself a former Perkins Coie partner – from Venable in January. Last year Molly Kocialski also joined in Denver as of counsel from the USPTO, where she had been regional director.
Holland & Hart chair Chris Balch said building a national destination for complex IP matters was a strategic priority for the firm.
“Patent disputes and portfolio decisions sit at the centre of commercial strategy for technology companies,” Balch said. “With Amanda, Dave, Dan, Matt and Trevor joining – alongside the recent additions of Molly Kocialski and Elizabeth Manno – we’re strengthening our ability to support clients with trial-ready litigation and sophisticated counsel around IP assets, whether the need is defensive, offensive or transactional."
The move comes amid a busy month for IP team moves in the US, with Brown Rudnick hiring a 34-lawyer IP litigation team from HSF Kramer in a move that will see it open an office in Silicon Valley and ArentFox Schiff adding a trademark and brands team of around 10 lawyers and paralegals from Reed Smith.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
