Brown Rudnick has completed the largest group lateral hire in its history, bringing aboard a 34-lawyer intellectual property litigation team from HSF Kramer.
The move signals that large-scale group lateral hires remain a dominant trend reshaping the competitive landscape of the legal industry.
The incoming team will simultaneously establish a brand-new Brown Rudnick office in Silicon Valley, marking a significant geographic expansion for the firm.
Landing an entire practice group is one thing, but securing one large enough to anchor a new office in one of the world’s most competitive legal markets is another matter entirely.
The group is led by seven partners spanning both coasts, bringing decades of combined experience in intellectual property litigation and patent prosecution matters.
On the Silicon Valley side, the partnership cohort includes Paul Andre, Lisa Kobialka, James Hannah, Kristopher Kastens, and Michael Lee.
The New York contingent is led by partners Jonathan Caplan and Aaron Frankel, extending the team’s reach across two of the most important legal markets in the United States.
Intellectual property litigation has become one of the most contested and high-value areas of legal practice, particularly in the technology-heavy Silicon Valley market.
The decision to open a new Silicon Valley office reflects the growing importance of the West Coast technology corridor for firms seeking to advise clients on complex patent and IP disputes.
Brown Rudnick’s expansion comes at a time when law firms across the industry are aggressively competing to recruit established practice groups rather than individual lateral partners.
Group hires of this scale allow firms to immediately establish credibility and client relationships in new markets, rather than building practices from scratch over several years.
The 34-lawyer team represents a substantial addition to Brown Rudnick’s overall headcount and is expected to significantly strengthen its intellectual property capabilities nationally.