White & Case adds intellectual property partners from Paul Hastings

(Reuters) - Law firm White & Case said Tuesday it has hired two Silicon Valley-based intellectual property litigators who represent large technology companies.

Yar Chaikovsky and Philip Ou join the New York-founded global firm from rival Paul Hastings, where they have practiced since 2015. Chaikovsky will become head of White & Case's technology intellectual property litigation group.

Paul Hastings, meanwhile, is adding a partner to its IP litigation practice from a another firm. Paul Hastings said Chicago-based partner Doug Sawyer, who advises on patent and trade secret litigation, has joined from Perkins Coie.

A Perkins Coie spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sawyer's departure.

The addition of Chaikovsky and Ou to White & Case comes a week after the 2,600-lawyer firm brought on another partner duo, Kimberly Petillo-Decossard and Ross Sturman, to its M&A practice in New York from Cahill Gordon & Reindel.

Chaikovsky, who earlier served as global co-chair of Paul Hastings' IP litigation practice for seven years, has represented clients including Rovi Corp (which is now TiVo Corp), Adobe Inc, Broadcom Inc, Sony Corp and Target Corp, according to his Paul Hastings online biography, which has since been taken offline. Chaikovsky worked as head patent counsel at Yahoo Inc earlier in his career.

Ou joined Paul Hastings with Chaikovsky in 2015 as part of an IP group that made the move from McDermott Will & Emery. He has represented clients including HTC Corp and AT&T Inc, according to his Paul Hastings online biography.

White & Case partner and executive committee member Heather McDevitt in a statement said the pair's arrival in Silicon Valley "further advances White & Case’s ambition to have a high-impact presence in the technology capital of the world."

A Paul Hastings spokesperson said the firm wishes them well.

Paul Hastings lost dealmaker Neil Torpey, who was chair of its Hong Kong office, last week to Baker Botts in New York and Austin. The Los Angeles-founded firm has recently made several other partner hires, though, in New York and London. On Monday, capital markets lawyer Grissel Mercado joined Paul Hastings in New York from Shearman & Sterling.

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White & Case adds Cahill partner pair, including M&A leader

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