Kirkland & Ellis LLP Expands IP Litigation Practice in San Francisco
To service current and future clients, the San Francisco office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP is expanding its Intellectual Property Litigation Practice. Two talented IP litigation partners from the Firm's Chicago office -- Christian Chadd Taylor and Kenneth H. Bridges -- have relocated to San Francisco. Kirkland's San Francisco office is located in the Bank of America Building.
The additions of Messrs. Taylor and Bridges add further strength to the experienced team that Kirkland has in place in the Bay area as well as nationwide. The San Francisco group, which has now grown to 17 lawyers, also features partner Eric R. Lamison, who relocated from Kirkland's Los Angeles office in 2002 to start the San Francisco IP Litigation Practice. Two of the prominent local clients that Kirkland services in the IP Litigation area are Cisco and Infineon Technologies AG.
"Because of all of the established and growing technology and biotech companies, Silicon Valley and the Bay are hot areas for IP Litigation," said John M. Desmarais, a senior Intellectual Property partner in Kirkland's New York office and a member of the Firm Management Committee. "We are delighted to have Chadd and Ken bring their talents to serve our clients in this area. Their arrival will only further enhance Kirkland's strong and growing San Francisco office."
"Kirkland has always been on the forefront when it comes to representing clients in complex matters, especially in the IP Litigation area," added Jeffrey C. Hammes, a member of the Firm Management Committee and one of the Firm's top corporate partners who was instrumental in originating and founding the San Francisco office. "The Firm is making a strong commitment to expanding the IP Litigation practice in San Francisco."
Mr. Taylor has an electrical engineering degree and has worked in the semiconductor area for companies including Infineon and SigmaTel. For example, SigmaTel is the U.S. leader in MP3 Flash Memory processors and Mr. Taylor has been the lead litigator for all of SigmaTel's patent cases. In addition, he has been the lead attorney for major patent litigation for Illinois Tool Works and Avid Identifications Systems. Mr. Taylor also frequently litigates disputes involving trade secret misappropriations, non-compete obligations, and information technology relationships.
Mr. Bridges focuses upon patent litigation with primary interests in biological, pharmaceutical, chemical and semiconductor-processing technologies. He has litigated patent matters in district courts and before the International Trade Commission (ITC) and arbitration bodies involving a variety of technologies including metallocene catalysts and polyethylenes, semiconductor etching, DNA arrays, and surgical robotics, wireless networking technology, and dental materials.
A founding partner for the intellectual property trial practice group for Kirkland's San Francisco office in 2002, Mr. Lamison has built an outstanding record in complex patent cases, including winning reportedly the largest case in the history of the ITC and several preliminary injunctions in expedited court proceedings. Clients include Cisco, Pioneer, Shuffle Master, and Rackable Systems. Mr. Lamison, a registered patent attorney, focuses his practice on patent cases in district courts and the ITC. He represents clients in many technical fields, including computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and biological sciences.
More information on specific matters that Messrs. Taylor, Bridges and Lamison have worked on is available on Kirkland's Web site at www.kirkland.com.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is a 1,000-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex insolvency and bankruptcy, corporate, tax, workout, litigation, dispute resolution and arbitration, and intellectual property and technology matters. The Firm has offices in San Francisco, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York and Washington, D.C.