Big Law Firms Winning More of Intellectual Property Work
ByAs disputes over patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets have grown, the nation’s biggest law firms have wrested away much of the lucrative intellectual property litigation work from smaller boutique firms.
Last year, the 50 largest firms had 61 percent of the specialized litigation work, up from the 36 percent in 2011, according to an analysis released on Tuesday by Lexis/Nexis CounselLink, which processes legal invoices.
The share of intellectual property business at smaller firms dropped, with legal work at firms employing 201 to 500 lawyers falling to a 13 percent market share last year, from 35 percent four years ago.
The analysis, called Enterprise Legal Management Trends, is based on examining four million law firm invoices processed since 2009, billing corporations a total of $18 billion. CounselLink of Raleigh, N.C., issues an analysis of its findings twice a year…
Big Law Firms Winning More of Intellectual Property Work
