Jenner & Block’s office on Third Avenue, New York City, has boosted its IP litigation ranks with the hire of Amr Aly, a litigator who also provides IP counseling. Though known largely for his patent expertise – he is the named inventor on one US patent, a powder thermal spray for non-meltable materials – he also assists clients with trademark and copyright matters.

Craig Martin, the chairman of the firm, spoke highly of Aly’s “solid track record of handling high-tech matters”, while Reginald Hill, co-chair of Jenner’s patent practice, described Aly as “an established patent lawyer with extensive experience in litigating high-stakes intellectual property matters for some of the most well-known global technology companies”.

The hire is an interesting play for the firm’s IP practice, which is best known for its superb copyright capabilities; patents are not traditionally a core strength. Moreover, Aly is the firm’s only New York-based patent litigator – most of the team is based in Chicago, with two partners in L.A. and one in D.C. Nonetheless, the firm now lists 18 partners in its Patent Litigation & Counseling practice, with around a dozen of these focusing mostly on patent litigation. With the enormous sums at stake in patent litigation, and with major litigation funders investing more heavily in patent litigation on both coasts, it’s fair to say that having that base covered well would be a smart move.

Aly, who arrived from Mayer Brown, is the firm’s fourth lateral partner hire in New York this year, following the arrival of M&A expert Robert Rawn, international arbitration practitioner Mélida Hodgson (whose arrival we covered here) and investigations and compliance specialist Charles Riely.