Lower Billing Rates Lure BigLaw Litigator to Smaller Firm

SAN FRANCISCO - Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton IP litigator Neil Smith has moved his practice to Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley, citing billing rate pressures. He joined as partner Monday.

"In this economy, the first thing you get asked is about billing rates," Smith said. "If you're at high rates and you don't have the ability to be flexible, then you're less competitive."

Since the move his rate has dropped from the $600s to the $400s, he said.

Smith joined Sheppard, Mullin in July 2005 from Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin. He's handled large and small patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright cases. His clients have included Levi Strauss, Adidas, Memorex, Gucci, Sega and other recording and video game companies.

At the 110-attorney Ropers Majeski, IP is one of about six areas the firm's trying to grow. Intellectual property and related work have been the largest revenue-generating practices, according to Richard Wilson, the firm's San Mateo-based managing partner. At least 20 lawyers handle IP, mostly litigation, he said.

Wilson counts semiconductor producers Maxim Integrated Products and global IT services provider HCL Technologies among the firm's IP clients.

Wilson said Smith brings depth and breadth of experience to Ropers. "There are people here who do what he does but haven't done it as long or their connections in Silicon Valley aren't as broad and deep as Neil's," Wilson said.

Smith joined Howard, Rice in 2001 following the demise of Limbach & Limbach. He has handled several major IP cases over the years, including representing Playboy magazine in a case testing to determine whether metatags, the hidden codes in Web pages, constitute trademark infringement. Smith also had the first copyright infringement case pertaining to framing, in which one website pops up in another.

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