McCarter & English today announced that the 11 attorneys and staff of Harrington & Smith, a Connecticut IP boutique, has combined with the firm. Joining McCarter is named partner Mark Harrington, along with partners Wayne Grohs and Robert Mauri; three associates, Joseph Drish, John Garrity, and Monica Laskos; and five professional staff members. The practices of the six lawyers are primarily focused on strategic patent portfolio preparation and prosecution for technology companies.
Over the years, the McCarter and Harrington firms have represented the same clients and currently share several large corporate clients in common in the robotics, semi-conductor, and telecommunications industries.
“This impressive group brings to our nationally recognized IP practice additional experience and depth in the high-tech industry, which is an area where we see significant demand,” said Jonathan Sparks, Chair of the firm’s IP practice. “Having a veteran like Mark Harrington on our high-tech team is great for our clients, as we strategically add to our technical capabilities and accelerate growth at McCarter.”
Harrington represents clients from startups to members of the Fortune 500 in the strategic protection and management of their patent portfolios including management and protection of issued patents, challenges of issued patents, due diligence transactions, patentability, and freedom-to-operate opinions. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Virginia Military Institute and a JD from The Elizabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.
“McCarter’s reputation as an IP powerhouse is well recognized,” said Harrington. “Our work continues to grow, so it makes good business sense to offer a larger, experienced team, as well as more resources and additional capabilities and services, to our clients. We were looking for a comprehensive IP group that would give us the ability to grow our practices and McCarter is the perfect platform on which to do that.”
Grohs received a chemical engineering degree from the University of New Haven and a JD from Quinnipiac College School of Law. His practice focuses on preparation and prosecution of chemical, mechanical, and electrical engineering patent applications in products as varied and diverse as power generation and personal hygiene.
Mauri currently has a practice focused on advising clients in the preparation and prosecution of electrical engineering and computer science patent applications for a broad range of technologies. His prior experience includes in-house legal experience as an IP lawyer at a manufacturer of helicopters. Before becoming a lawyer, he was an engineer at a start-up that made RF equipment for the military and at a large manufacturer of control system devices used for automation.
All three associates also focus on global patent preparation and prosecution. Drish received a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, an MS in Computer Science from the University of California, an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a JD from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law; Garrity received a BS in Biomedical Computer Science from the University of New Haven and a JD from Quinnipiac University School of Law; Laskos has a BA in English from University of Pennsylvania and a JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
McCarter’s IP practice is more than 100 professionals strong and handles the entire range of intellectual property issues for its clients. The firm recently has focused on expanding its high-tech IP practice by adding several laterals in addition to the Harrington, including Dave Christiansen as a partner in Hartford; Michael Sartori and Harry Park as partners in the firm’s DC office; James M. Smedley in the Philadelphia office, Alex Korona in the Newark office, and Michael Gnibus as a partner in the firm’s Stamford office.