August 30, 2010 8:00 PM

Another IP Partner Leaves Kirkland

Posted by Ed Shanahan

Kirkland & Ellis's intellectual property practice has suffered some big losses over the past year and Monday brought news of more. Andrew Longstreth at the Litigation Daily has this exclusive on IP partner Gerald Flattmann, Jr.'s move to Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker.

Flattmann, whose client roster includes pharmaceutical companies Forrest Laboratories and Sanofi-Aventis, tendered his resignation Monday. In an interview with the Litigation Daily, he said he will be joined at the new firm by Kirkland IP attorneys Melanie Rupert and Christine Willgoos (Flattmann goes to Paul Hastings as a partner; Rupert and Willgoos join as of counsel).

The move is the third high-profile IP departure from Kirkland in the past year. In January, Longstreth broke the news that IP star John Desmarais was leaving the firm to launch his own patent licensing company. Desmarais's move came just a week after IP partner Peter Armenio joined Quinn Emanuel Urguhart & Sullivan as cochair of its life sciences practice.

Flattmann, 43, said his move is related to the previous departures of Desmarais and Armenio. All three have represented brand-name pharmaceutical companies in patent cases, and having breath and depth in that specialty at the partner level is key, he said.

At Paul Hastings, Flattmann will be joining partners Bruce Wexler and Joseph O'Malley, who started the firm's pharma IP practice four years ago as laterals from Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper, Scinto.

CLICK HERE to read the full post from the Litigation Daily.

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