US law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius has kicked off the new year with the hire of patent litigator Alexander Ritter in Munich from Baker McKenzie, the latest in a string of senior hires to strengthen its European IP capabilities. 

Ritter has joined the firm as a partner after a decade at Baker McKenzie, where he made partner in 2021 and most recently chaired its German patent litigation practice. Earlier he was at German IP firm Preu Bohlig, and brings particular expertise in technology and life sciences patent disputes. 

His hire follows Morgan Lewis recruiting leading IP litigator Hiroshi Sheraton from Baker McKenzie in London in September, around the same time it secured prominent London patent lawyer Tim Powell, a co-founder of boutique IP firm Powell Gilbert.

Ritter joins as Morgan Lewis’s seventh partner in Munich, according to its website, including IP duo Alexander Klett and Christoph Mikyska, who joined last July from Reed Smith. The firm first launched in the city in 2023 with a 20-strong team from legacy Shearman & Sterling. 

Morgan Lewis chair, Jami McKeon, said Ritter’s hire would have an “immediate and significant impact for our clients intersecting the complexities of patent disputes in Germany, across Europe and beyond”.

Ritter’s patent litigation practice focuses on representing clients across the high tech, engineering, chemical, healthcare and medical device, and biotechnology industries. He counsels clients on infringement proceedings before German and EU patent infringement courts and patent office oppositions, and also advises on IP-related corporate transactions.

As a Unified Patent Court (UPC) representative for Morgan Lewis, he is well placed as the new court has a local division and a central division in Munich.

Louis Beardell Jr, head of Morgan Lewis’s global IP practice, pointed to Ritter’s track record in handling standard essential patent disputes, patent infringement and validity proceedings, which he said “makes him a tremendous asset to our firm and enhances our talent bench in this space”.

He added: “His computer science background, combined with over a decade of experience in high-stakes patent litigation, will add value to our clients in even the most challenging IP disputes.”

Morgan Lewis has also made a major play in Paris recently, absorbing the 50-plus lawyer Paris office of US firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel that has not been included in the latter’s planned merger with Herbert Smith Freehills.