New Dewey San Francisco Office is 2nd Announced in 1 Day to Be Headed by Howrey IP Defector
Two years after closing the San Francisco office of Dewey & LeBoeuf, the law firm is reopening it in order to provide a home for three intellectual property lawyers defecting from Howrey.
They are Henry Bunsow, who will co-chair the entire firm’s IP litigation practice, Denise De Mory and Brian Smith, according to a law firm press release and the San Francisco Business Times.
When Dewey closed the San Francisco office in 2009, it asked the 17 lawyers there to move to Silicon Valley, the Business Times article notes. There’s no word on whether any of the 22 lawyers now in the firm’s Silicon Valley office will be returning to the San Francisco office.
A lengthy Blog of Legal Times article gives more details, noting among others that Bunsow formerly served as vice chairman of Howrey and that senior patent litigator Joseph Lavelle departed Howrey a few months ago to join the Washington, D.C., office of Dewey & LeBoeuf.
Bunsow also has an estimated $20 million book of business.
Meanwhile, another IP veteran who formerly headed the Taipei, Taiwan, office of Howrey has jumped ship to head a new office there for Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, the Blog of Legal Times noted.
Both new offices were announced yesterday by the law firms.
Sean Boland, who now serves as vice chairman of Howrey, tells the BLT that the firm wishes the departing lawyers well and is optimistic about 2011 following a “difficult” restructuring last year.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Down 63 Partners Since Last Winter, Howrey Struggles to Boost PPP Back Toward $1M Mark”
ABAJournal.com: “Howrey MP Says Outsourcing, Electronic Discovery Spurred Partnership Downsizing”
Updated at 6:08 p.m. to link to subsequent post about Bunsow.
