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Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and Parsons Hsue & De Runtz LLP Law Firms to Merge
Friday, May 18, 2007
San Francisco, CA – The national law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP (DWT) and the San Francisco-based boutique patent and trademark firm Parsons Hsue & de Runtz LLP (PHDR) announced today that they are merging effective May 18, 2007. The merger will add significant depth and breadth in the areas of patent and trademark prosecution and counseling to DWT’s well-established intellectual property group. Joining DWT as partners are James S. Hsue and K. Alison de Runtz. Gerald P. Parsons joins the firm as of counsel.
"We have a vibrant intellectual property practice throughout our firm and in our California offices, and the merger with Parsons Hsue & de Runtz presents a great opportunity to increase our ability to serve intellectual property clients with a range of needs and in a variety of sciences," said Martin L. Fineman, partner-in-charge of DWT’s San Francisco office.
DWT’s California offices continue to experience strong client demand for intellectual property and patent services. The Los Angeles office added a patent group in 2005, focusing primarily on biotechnology, medical devices and other life sciences technologies. That group has continued to expand and enjoy great success. The PHDR group will strengthen the California patent practice by expanding the firm’s technical expertise into the fields of electrical engineering, chemical engineering, and physics, and will further strengthen the firm’s trademark practice.
"Our new colleagues enjoy a stellar reputation for providing strategic representation and zealous protection of their clients’ IP, particularly in the areas of electronics, computer science and chemical engineering," said Alexandra Nicholson, co-chair of DWT’s intellectual property practice group. "They are a perfect fit with our California patent group, as their combined range of technical expertise is particularly well-suited to serve the multifaceted high-tech market in California," said Nicholson.
PHDR’s services include procuring and maintaining patents and trademark registrations in the U.S. and abroad, as well as a full range of strategic client counseling in IP matters. A sampling of technologies and industries served by PHDR includes those concerning semiconductors, flash memory, optics, audio and video, wireless and optical communications, chemical, pharmaceutical, medical, instrumentation and software.
"We are excited about this merger – our clients will continue to receive high quality IP legal services and can now call upon the additional resources that Davis Wright Tremaine brings, particularly in complementary areas such as biotech, high technology and digital media," said James Hsue of PHDR.
While the PHDR boutique was formed in February 2003, some of its professionals, including its highly skilled patent agents, have practiced together for more than 20 years, first with Majestic, Parsons, Siebert and Hsue P.C. and subsequently with Skjerven Morrill LLP in San Francisco. Each of these professionals has an undergraduate or graduate degree in a technical field such as electrical engineering, chemical engineering, or physics.
DWT attorneys have practiced in this area of law for decades and offer the full complement of intellectual property and technology services. These services range from copyright, trademark, trade secret and patent issues to the developing law of the Internet, computers, and biotechnology, with licensing and litigation expertise in all areas.
About Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is a national business and litigation law firm with more than 480 attorneys in nine offices: Seattle and Bellevue (Wash.), Portland (Ore.), Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., Anchorage (Alaska) and Shanghai, China. For more information, visit www.dwt.com.
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