News
Law Practice
Feb. 21, 2002
Latham & Watkins Swipes Two Partners From Cooley
LOS ANGELES - Continuing an aggressive expansion it began last year, Los Angeles' Latham & Watkins has added two partners to its Silicon Valley office.
Matthew Lehr, an intellectual property litigator and Anthony Klein, a licensing and technology transactions lawyer, are joining the office's litigation and corporate departments, respectively. Both lawyers have left the Palo Alto office of 665-attorney Cooley Godward.
The additions illustrate Latham & Watkins' commitment to being a leader in the troubled technology sector of Silicon Valley, said Peter Kerman, managing partner of that office.
"This is obviously very great for us," Kerman said. "Both Tony and Matt are tremendous, talented lawyers."
Bucking the trend of other tech-heavy firms that are decreasing in size, Latham & Watkins has increased its Silicon Valley work force by 20 percent in the past year. Kerman said the office began 2001 with more than 40 attorneys and ended with 60. The firm plans to inflate the office another 10 percent to 15 percent this year.
Kerman attributed the firm's success to a diversified technology practice - on both the transactional and litigation sides.
"We've got a very strong life science practice," Kerman said. "The life science industries through 2001 was very busy as compared to the Internet market."
He noted that the 1,400-attorney firm represents a broad range of public and private technology companies, including National Semi Conductor, TiVo and AmGen.
Mark Pitchford, partner-in-charge of Cooley Godward's Palo Alto office, said that the departures will not affect his firm significantly and that he wishes both attorneys well.
Both Lehr, 44, and Klein, 37, started at Latham on Tuesday.
"I am looking forward to helping [Latham] build one of the leading patent litigation practices in Silicon Valley," Lehr said in a prepared statement.
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Donna Huffaker
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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