BakerHostetler adds 19-member Morgan Lewis IP team in California

Legal offices of the BakerHostetler law firm in Washington, D.C. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

(Reuters) – Baker & Hostetler has added 19 lawyers and professionals to its IP ranks in Southern California, the firm said Monday, as the Cleveland-founded law firm continues to expand on the West Coast.

Partners Mark Itri and Michael Dreznes lead the team joining Baker & Hostetler’s Costa Mesa office from another large law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

A third lawyer joining as a partner, Mark Bentley, as well as one counsel and one associate also moved from Morgan Lewis to Baker & Hostetler, according to a spokesperson for the 1,000-lawyer firm. The rest of the group is comprised of patent agents, IP specialists and other professionals.

West Coast growth is a “strategic firm priority,” Baker & Hostetler chairman Paul Schmidt said in a statement.

The firm opened an office in San Francisco in March 2020 and brought in a new managing partner to expand its Los Angeles office in Jan. 2019. Baker & Hostetler also has an office in Seattle.

The firm said in the Monday statement it has added more than 75 people on the West Coast since 2019.

The new group expands the firm’s electrical, mechanical and computer science prosecution team within its IP practice group.

Itri was the Orange County IP head at Morgan Lewis, according to a representative for BakerHostetler. He previously practiced at McDermott, Will & Emery as global head of IP before hopping to Morgan Lewis as part of a group move, which included Dreznes, in 2018.

Itri at the time had counted Apple Inc, Lockheed Martin Corp, and Alphabet Inc’s Google as clients, according to a 2018 statement publicizing his move. Baker & Hostetler declined to discuss Itri’s current clients.

The team joining Baker & Hostetler advises clients on IP planning, management of patent and trademark portfolios and due diligence in technology and trademark acquisitions, the firm said.

A Morgan Lewis spokesperson said the departure of the partners and their team “does not diminish our footprint or our capabilities in any respect.” The firm’s IP practice has 80 lawyers and professionals across four offices in California, and 17 in Orange County, the spokesperson said.

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