The chair of Ropes & Gray’s IP litigation practice has defected to Sheppard Mullin with a 20-lawyer team.
New York-based patent litigator Steven Pepe has made the move with four further partners and 16 counsel and associates, who have joined across Sheppard Mullin’s Manhattan, Silicon Valley, Washington DC and Seoul offices.
Sheppard Mullin has been focused on growing its IP practice. The firm hired a trio of life sciences partners from Perkins Coie in Chicago and Washington DC in June and over the past few years has also added partners from rivals such as Winston & Strawn, Snell & Wilmer and Dentons to the practice. The firm said the incoming Ropes group meant it has one of the largest patent litigation practices in the US and more than 130 IP lawyers globally.
“In recent years, we’ve strategically hired patent litigation teams across the country to build a market-leading offering,” said Sheppard Mullin chair, Luca Salvi. “Given the changing competitive landscape in the global environment, we believe that protecting IP assets is the core value of business in the future, and the addition of this group solidifies the firm’s reputation as a patent litigation powerhouse.”
Pepe told Reuters the group moving to Sheppard Mullin focuses on high-tech companies, particularly in the telecoms sector, and including staff would be close to 30 people.
For his part Pepe has spent the past 28 years at Ropes and has represented clients including Samsung and Collision Communications. He specialises in complex infringement cases.
Also in the group are Silicon Valley-based partners David Chun, who focuses on litigating patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation and copyright infringement matters, and Jim Davis, who represents IP owners and challengers in high-stakes disputes before US district courts, the ITC, the Federal Circuit and the USPTO.
Kevin Post and Matthew Shapiro, who work out of New York, round out the partners joining Sheppard Mullin from Ropes. They focus on patent litigation, including cases involving SEPs, FRAND licensing disputes, breach of contract claims and patent portfolio strategy.
“Bringing our entire team to Sheppard Mullin was an easy choice,” Pepe said. “In addition to the firm’s global reputation in IP litigation, it’s committed to growing and investing in the practice throughout the US and in South Korea, where we have many clients. The firm offers the kind of scale and entrepreneurial culture that aligns with the increasingly complex and global nature of IP litigation and will serve our clients well.”
Los Angeles-founded Sheppard Mullin brought in just over $1.2bn in gross revenue in 2024, according to data published by American Lawyer, placing it 48th on the Am Law 200.
Ropes & Gray is much the larger of the two firms, placing seventh on the Am Law 200 with revenue of $3.4bn last year. Following the team’s departure for Sheppard Mullin, its IP litigation team has around 35 lawyers including five partners, according to its website.
A Ropes & Gray spokesperson said the firm “remains fully committed to the ongoing growth of our IP transactions practice, as well as strengthening our presence in key markets, including the West Coast. We are grateful for the contributions of our former colleagues and look forward to opportunities for continued collaboration with them”.
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