More than 100 lawyers and staff will be departing Ropes & Gray as the American BigLaw spins off its intellectual property prosecution practice into a new firm.
Ropes & Gray chairman Brad Malt said that it is expected no more than three to five partners will join the spinoff, The Boston Globe reported. Partner Joe Guiliano will be heading the new firm. Malt said that Ropes & Gray is still deciding who will depart for the new business.
The new firm, which will be based in New York, is expected to establish Silicon Valley and Boston offices. Malt said it is expected that the spinoff will share many clients with Ropes & Gray, the largest law firm headquartered in Boston.
“We are restructuring our IP practice groups to a configuration that we believe best serves our clients,” Malt in a
statement.
The firm – which will continue to offer other IP rights management capabilities such as trademark prosecution and patent analysis, strategy, and counselling – said the spinoff process will likely take several months. It is understood the firm will no longer do patent prosecution work after the spinoff.
Ropes & Gray – which also has offices Chicago, Hong Kong, London, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Washington, DC – has nearly 1,200 lawyers.
Related stories:
Cooley pockets US$1.8m from Snapchat IPO
American behemoth notches 21st consecutive year of growth
