Pennie & Edmonds

Pennie & Edmonds was a New York City-based boutique law firm that focused on all aspects of intellectual property law. The firm practiced from 1883 until December 31, 2003, when it dissolved.

The firm's dissolution came in the wake of boutique IP firms losing ground to general-practice firms – and, perhaps more acutely, the loss of key rainmakers, mostly patent litigation partners who took their clients to full-service firms (see book of business).

The loss of rainmaker Jonathan A. Marshall, a litigator with clients such as Hewlett-Packard that decamped to Weil Gotshal & Manges in 2002, augured badly for Pennie & Edmonds. With the firm's lease up for renewal and the firm's partners unwilling to personally guarantee it, Pennie & Edmonds began talking to other firms with a view toward a merger. In the end, the firm's partners voted to dissolve. The Palo Alto office joined Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a rapidly expanding Philadelphia-based firm, while much of the New York office joined national firm Jones Day.[1]

Ironically, Marshall has since rejoined another IP boutique firm, Fish & Richardson, which has been rapidly expanding into the General Practice arena.[2]

Former Pennie & Edmonds employees have created a group on Facebook which enables them to stay in touch and schedule reunions. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516745650&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=22002598763

References

  1. ↑ Anthony Lin, 'Pennie & Edmonds to Close Doors by Year's End', New York Law Journal, December 11, 2003.
  2. ↑ Anthony Lin, 'Top Patent Litigator Returns to His Boutique Roots,' New York Law Journal, August 14, 2006.