Last month King & Spalding’s D.C. office didn’t have an intellectual property practice. Kilpatrick Stockton did. So King & Spalding decided to conduct a little raid. Three former Kilpatrick partners, including the
firm’s D.C. managing partner, George Marcou, started last Monday in King & Spalding’s intellectual property group as patent prosecutors. Marcou brought with him partner Dawn-Marie Bey, and partner-elect Michael Dimino.
But King & Spalding wasn’t done there. They also scored seven members of Kilpatrick’s government relations practice, who made the jump to King & Spalding’s government advocacy and public policy group. Partner Christopher Ott, who led Kilpatrick’s government relations group, brought with him associate William Clarkson, government relations adviser Tara Chapman, and senior government relations advisers John Howell, Michael Rishling, Arch Galloway, and Dan Hickey.
The pilfering comes six months after three partners in King & Spalding’s corporate transaction group bolted for Hogan & Hartson. King & Spalding D.C. office managing partner J. Sedwick Sollers III says he’s still “on the lookout” to rebuild the corporate group. In the meantime, he says building up the IP practice is part of a “strategic direction, both from a firm standpoint and from the standpoint of diversifying this office.”
As for Kilpatrick Stockton, the firm's D.C. managing partner Stephen Baskin says he plans to re-grow both the IP and government relations practices in his office soon.
More on this in the Keeping Score section of next week's Legal Times.
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