Brown Rudnick Lands 34-Lawyer IP Litigation Team from HSF Kramer — Firm's Largest Group Hire
BY INSIDE PRACTICE · AUGUST 20, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
On August 5, Brown Rudnick announced what Above the Law described as the largest group hire in the firm's history: a 34-lawyer intellectual property litigation team acquired from HSF Kramer, paired with the simultaneous launch of a new Silicon Valley office. The move is a direct bet on two converging demand signals — the sustained surge in AI and technology-related patent disputes, and the government-to-BigLaw pipeline that has driven senior regulatory and IP moves all year. For economics-focused readers, the key implication is strategic: IP litigation has become one of the most expensive lateral investment categories precisely because it is a countercyclical complement to transactional volume, and firms are paying a premium to build IP depth during a period when transactional demand is generating the revenue to finance that investment.