Ropes & Gray Restructures Patent Prosecution Practice

Ropes & Gray has announced its plans to restructure how it provides patent prosecution service to clients.

Over the coming months, the firm will work closely and collaboratively with partner Joe Guiliano, who is establishing a new firm with other Ropes & Gray partners in the IP rights management practice. The new firm will house much of Ropes & Gray’s patent prosecution business going forward and offer clients the same high standards of patent prosecution and other related services that they have come to expect. Other Ropes & Gray lawyers, technical advisors and staff in the IP rights management practice are expected to join the new firm.

“We are restructuring our IP practice groups to a configuration that we believe best serves our clients,” said Ropes & Gray chairman Brad Malt. “We remain committed to providing world-class IP litigation capabilities, and we will continue offering our industry-leading IP transactions practice to clients.”

“We’re excited to start a new firm that will specialize in IP rights management,” said Mr. Guiliano. “The new firm will be positioned to offer the kind of specialized, focused counsel on patent prosecution and related matters that our clients have come to expect.”

Ropes & Gray also plans to continue offering other IP rights management capabilities, such as trademark prosecution and patent analysis, strategy and counseling.

“For many years, the Ropes & Gray name has been synonymous with an elite IP practice, and our lawyers and professionals will continue working hard to maintain that legacy,” said Jim Batchelder, IP litigation partner in Silicon Valley and a member of the firm’s policy committee.

Ropes & Gray is established as one of the world’s leading law firms for intellectual property, having been named “Law Firm of the Year for Patent Law” and “Law Firm of the Year for Patent Litigation” by U.S. News & World Report and honored as a leading IP firm by Chambers, The Legal 500, and Managing IP, among others.