Four Partners quit Paul Weiss to inaugurate new law firm

Four Partners quit Paul Weiss to inaugurate new law firm

According to the group, four partners have left law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to open a new firm dedicated on patent litigation work.

The lawyers – Nicholas Groombridge, Jennifer Wu, J. Steven Baughman and Eric Alan Stone – have represented biotechnology, pharmaceutical and technology companies. It includes Amgen Inc, Genentech Inc, Twitter Inc and Garmin Ltd.

The team has named the firm as Groombridge, Wu, Baughman & Stone, and plan to set up in New York and Washington, D.C.

The lawyers want to approach patent litigation work "in a way that perhaps doesn't make sense for a large law firm" according to Groombridge. He further added that the new firm would adopt a staffing model "which is more weighted to the upper end" of expertise. It will also mean a move away from purely hourly billing.

By the beginning of 2023, the new firm expects to build a team having 20-25 lawyers, according to Groombridge.

Groombridge called the separation "entirely amicable" from Paul Weiss and the firm "could not be more gracious or greet in enabling this."

Brad Karp, Chairman at Paul Weiss called the lawyers "extraordinary patent litigators" and added that the firms anticipate to collaborate.

Paul Weiss' patent litigation group has nine continuing lawyers listed on its website, including three partners.

He added, "The group has typically generated about 70percent of its revenue from repeat clients that are mostly large companies and 30percent from smaller entities. The new firm anticipates to work with major companies in the bio-pharmaceutical sector, hence improve its focus on tech clients."