Leveraging Strength: How U.S. Firms are Recruiting UPC Talent

The launch of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is challenging companies to reexamine their litigation strategies, and law firms in both Europe and the United States seem eager to help.

Jochen Herr, managing partner of Finnegan's Munich office told Managing Intellectual Property that the firm is continually recruiting, given all the pending litigation at the court. He added that recently Finnegan hired two junior associates and two senior lawyers in Munich bringing the total team to 12 attorneys - 10 of which will practice at the UPC.

"The plan for the Munich office is to expand as needed to meet future client demands," he said. "But what we have now is a good size. We are in a position where we can handle each and every dispute. We'll look at how the UPC will develop further and how German litigation develops."

When asked about the business pressure, Jochen said that Finnegan is "really well known" for contentious patent work in the U.S. He adds that the second most important market for patent litigation is Europe, with a center in Germany.

"Over 80% of all infringement cases filed at the UPC have been filed in German local divisions. So, it's no surprise that we have a high workload and a high demand for clients. With that, we hope it's attractive to join Finnegan," Jochen said.

Jochen notes that it's important to recruit junior talent to have a healthy office structure.

"But we know clients have business pressures, and some clients are reluctant to pay for junior lawyers, because of a lack of experience," he said.

"In addition, considering that budgets in legal departments have got smaller, it has become a challenge to staff matters with a sufficient number of junior lawyers."

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