Duane Morris expands national IP practice with triple partner hire

Duane Morris expands national IP practice with triple partner hire

Duane Morris, a top 100 US law firm, has hired three intellectual property partners to expand its national practice. Tia Fenton and Christopher Ricciuti recently joined the Washington DC office, while Agatha Liu joined the Silicon Valley office in January. The hires are part of the firm's efforts to secure "marquee talent" and grow its practice.

Louis Norwood Jameson, the chair of Duane Morris' IP practice group, commented on the hiring of Tia Fenton and Christopher Ricciuti. He stated that both are thought leaders and bring additional capabilities to the firm's industry-leading patent litigation practice in Washington. Fenton, he said, is a skilled scientist and litigator, while Ricciuti has broad experience in technology, patent litigation, and PTAB.

Chairman and CEO Matthew Taylor added: "Our intellectual property capabilities are exceptionally strong for an Am Law 100 firm and we have a premier practice supporting clients with very well-known names on significant, bet-the-company matters. We are focused on adding marquee talent to this practice group."

All new recruits hail from specialist IP firms. Ricciuti and Fenton were partners at Oblon McClelland Mater & Neustadt, whereas Liu was a partner at Hickman Becker Bingham Ledesma.

Legal directory Chambers USA ranks the firm's Pennsylvania office for IP, citing 'an experienced group with a breadth of highly effective practitioners' and its Georgia arm, where it is 'recognised for its experience acting for technology companies in contentious proceedings, including patent infringement disputes'.

Liu focuses her practice on intellectual property analysis, portfolio management, and strategic counselling. She provides advice to investors, business owners, and inventors on all aspects of IP related to computer technology. She has a strong research background in artificial intelligence, particularly as applied to internet communications, database system management, computational biology, and speech recognition.

Fenton has a background in chemistry, biochemistry, and genetics. She specialises in chemical, biochemical, biomedical, and pharmaceutical cases. Before attending law school, Fenton worked as a DNA analyst and a forensic DNA examiner. She provides clients with advice on litigation procedures and strategies, litigation avoidance, and the protection and enforcement of patent portfolios.

Ricciuti, on the other hand, is involved in litigating mechanical, electrical, and computer software patents in federal courts. He also handles patent validity challenges before the US Patent and Trademark Office. Ricciuti has experience in a variety of technologies including consumer electronics, smartphones, cloud computing, and distributed systems.