Firms with the Most Patent Attorneys and Agents

The following list ranks the top 25 firms with the most registered patent law professionals. All of these firms have 100+ patent attorneys/agents. I also include a note following the firm with some information about how the numbers have changed since 2010.

Fish & Richardson (Steady)
Finnegan Henderson (Down 50+, Spin-off firms, including Bookoff McAndrews & McNeill Baur)
Wilson Sonsini (More than doubled, mostly new attorneys/agents)
Knobbe Martens (Steady)
Kilpatrick Townsend (Big growth from merger of firms)
Foley & Lardner (Steady)
Baker Botts (Steady)
IBM (Steady)
Perkins Coie (More than doubled)
Morrison & Foerster (Steady)
Cooley (More than doubled, mostly new attorneys/agents)
Sterne Kessler (Some growth)
Morgan Lewis (Some growth)
Jones Day (Some decline)
Schwegman Lundberg (Doubled)
Wolf Greenfield (Doubled)
Banner & Witcoff (Some growth)
Polsinelli PC (Huge growth, including folks from Novak Druce; Dorsey; etc. and also new attorneys)
Johnson & Johnson (company)
Alston & Bird (Steady)
Kirkland & Ellis (Steady)
Haynes and Boone (Growth – mostly new attorneys)
Mintz Levin (Doubled – mostly new attorneys)
Qualcomm (Some growth)
Harness IP (Some decline)

Firms with the biggest losses of folks since 2010 include Kenyon & Kenyon (firm closed — 150 people); Brinks (down to 86 from 160, folks left to go to lots of different places); Woodcock (most joined BakerHostetler); Blakely Sokoloff (firm closed an many joined Womble Bond but also spin-off firms of Jaffery Watson; Nicholson De Vos); Connolly Bove (firm closed); Fitzpatrick Cella (Firm closed with many joining Venable); Ropes & Gray (lots of folks left to other firms, including spin-off Haley Guiliano); Novak Druce (lots of poaching, including by Polsinelli; Duane Morris, etc.).

The list has a some big caveats. (1) The data comes from the USPTO register, and some attorneys are not good at updating their information. For example. Kenyon & Kenyon closed its doors in 2016, but 30+ registrations still list the firm. (2) A number of folks use their home (or some other) address rather than firm address for the registration. (3) Retired folks often do not update their registration.