Barnes & Thornburg’s Intellectual Property practice is among the largest in the country, with nearly 130 IP attorneys and professionals and 75 registered patent attorneys and agents. Our clients know that their intellectual property — inventions, brands and trade secrets — are as valuable as their factories, laboratories and inventories. We believe that intellectual property must be cultivated and nourished to grow as an asset and without the right care, it will wither.
Our team works diligently to help clients succeed in overseeing and protecting their valuable IP with employees, customers, partners and competitors, and to avoid infringement of the IP rights of others. We position and leverage our client’s critical IP in industry and specialized markets, and defend patent, trademark and copyright integrity in the judicial system and in agency review and appeals.
We assist product development, marketing, sales and finance teams with comprehensive IP programs and protect products from copying by competitors. We advise on IP holdings valued into the billions of dollars of market share, representing Fortune 500 companies with thousands of IP assets, as well as startup companies defined by a single patent. Our attorneys are committed to client service, cohesive teamwork, responsiveness and useful advice.
From coast to coast, we counsel clients from a variety of industries, such as medical device, plastics and packaging, internet and computer technology, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, automotive and aviation. With decades of experience, we understand that the many types of IP assets drive core business strategy and brand development. Our cost-conscious solutions help clients derive as much value from their intellectual resources as from their human resources.
From our offices in strategic hubs of commerce, law, and government across North America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, we work with clients ranging from established, global Fortune 100 companies to enterprising startups.
Our team of more than 2,200 lawyers and legal professionals provides comprehensive corporate, transactional, litigation, and regulatory services in major industries, including energy, financial services, healthcare, life sciences, retail and ecommerce, sports, technology, and transportation. We focus on both immediate and long-term goals with our clients, helping them address and anticipate challenges across vast and rapidly changing landscapes.
We approach every representation with an equal commitment to first understanding, and then efficiently and effectively advancing, the interests of our clients and arriving at the best results. If a client has a question, we’ll immediately find the person in our global network with the answer. If there’s a shift in the legal landscape, we’re on top of it, and our clients will be too.
Founded in 1873, we stand on the shoulders of more than 150 years of achievement, but we never rest on our reputation.
Desmarais LLP is a premier intellectual property litigation firm with approximately 75 attorneys across its New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. offices. The firm has successfully tried and won several of the industry’s most high-profile patent cases in recent years, representing some of the world’s largest companies.
The firm works on complex, often technology-focused disputes, handling every step of the litigation process. The breadth of Desmarais LLP’s work spans a wide range of subjects and technologies, and the firm has obtained successful trial results for clients – both plaintiffs and defendants – in dozens of patent infringement cases and other intellectual property areas.
Litigation
Desmarais LLP handles all patent litigation stages and has significant trial experience in every major forum for technology and life sciences in the United States and elsewhere. The firm has successfully tried cases before judges and juries throughout the U.S., before administrative bodies (including the International Trade Commission and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board), and in front of arbitration panels. Desmarais LLP’s patent infringement successes include winning trials across a host of district courts, preserving both offensive and defensive victories on appeal, obtaining reversals of adverse results, and steering the development of substantive law in clients’ interests in a variety of subject matter areas.
The firm’s patent litigation experience spans numerous industries covering technologies including biotech innovations, chemicals, consumer electronics, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, software, telecommunications, and transportation. The firm’s High-Tech Practice, International Trade Commission Practice, Life Sciences and Medical Device Practice, and Post-Grant Practice also litigate in areas beyond patent disputes, including antitrust, contracts, counterfeiting, fraud, trade dress, trademarks, trade secrets, and unfair competition.
Additionally, the firm’s Pro Bono Practice is committed to serving the community, partnering with organizations such as the SDNY Pro Se Clerk’s Office, the Veterans Consortium, Immigration Equality, and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Each year, Desmarais LLP recognizes attorneys and paralegals who make substantial contributions as part of its Pro Bono Challenge.
Innovative Fee Structures
Desmarais LLP is an industry trailblazer in alternative fee arrangements (AFAs). The firm has abandoned the traditional (and frequently inefficient) billable-hour model in favor of fee arrangements more closely tailored to clients’ interests. This flexible and innovative approach sets it apart from other top-tier firms that litigate similarly large, complex cases.
For clients who prefer predictability, the firm provides flat-fee arrangements negotiated at the outset of the matter, and for those seeking a shared-risk approach, the firm is open to contingent fee arrangements and hybrid structures tailored to the client and the case. Additionally, the firm offers flat-fee billing for expenses. This gives clients clearer budgeting for the duration of the matter (though monthly fees can vary based on the stage of the litigation).
Benefits and Compensation
Desmarais LLP is a leader in benefits and compensation – paying associates salaries that top the New York scale and year-end bonuses for high performers that significantly exceed the market rate. The firm covers 100% of health insurance premiums for all employees and their dependents, meaning attorneys and staff having no monthly costs, except when they receive medical services (e.g., copays). The firm also contributes 4% annually to employees’ 401(k)s – not as a match but as an automatic contribution, even if employees are not paying into their retirement accounts. In addition to short-term disability for birth mothers, Desmarais LLP also provides 12 weeks of paid parental leave for all lawyers and staff, regardless of gender or whether they are adoptive parents.
Diversity
Desmarais LLP is committed to maintaining a workplace that respects all cultures, backgrounds, beliefs, and identities. The firm believes its attorneys’ and staff’s diverse set of experiences play a valuable role in helping achieve creative and effective solutions when dealing with clients’ most challenging cases. The firm’s Diversity Committee promotes an inclusive work environment and focuses on recruiting and retaining lawyers from diverse backgrounds. Desmarais LLP also regularly sponsors student organizations dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion at law schools and sponsors the annual ChIPs Global Summit dedicated to the advancement of women in technology, law, and policy.
Bunsow De Mory is a nationally recognized litigation boutique that specializes in maximizing the value of IP through strategic litigation. The firm is based in Northern California and has seasoned litigators around the country, including in Texas and Washington, DC.
The firm represents IP owners in federal district courts, federal appellate courts, the ITC, and before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board against the largest companies and law firms in the world and consistently achieves best in class results for its clients.
The firm works on matters across a range of technologies and industries, including mobile communications, consumer electronics, semiconductors, the “internet of things,” automotive, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, fintech, and life sciences.
Bunsow De Mory attorneys are strategic, technically proficient, and trial tested, with decades of experience and success litigating patent cases in venues throughout the country. And even as the landscape for patent owners has become more difficult in recent years, the firm wins. In the last several years, current firm partners secured more than $400M in verdicts and settlements.
The firm’s strength is its well-tested ability to formulate strategies that drive results. Bunsow De Mory knows how to maximize its client’s chances of pretrial and trial successes through effective storytelling and strategic planning, which starts before they file a case or immediately upon being retained to work on a case.
Legal experts have recognized the firm’s excellence. In 2025, firm attorneys landed on “best of” lists issued by the following ranking organizations: Chambers USA for patent litigation; Managing IP as a Global Top 250 Woman in IP; IAM 300 as a Top Patent Strategist; Managing IP as a Top Tier Firm and IPSTARS; Benchmark Litigation as a Litigation Star; Law Dragon as a Top 500 Litigator in America and a Top 500 Global IP Attorney; The Daily Journal as a Top IP Lawyer; and Patexia as Top 100 and Top 250 Best Performing and Active lawyers at the PTAB.