McCarter & English acquires Connecticut-based boutique IP firm

Kimberly Redmond//October 22, 2024//

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Newark-based McCarter & English acquired a six-lawyer boutique firm based in Connecticut that specializes in intellectual property work.

McCarter welcomed Harrington & Smith partners Mark Harrington, Wayne Grohs and Robert Mauri, as well as three associates and five professional staff members to its office in Hartford, Conn., in an Oct. 16 press release.

Harrington has represented clients from startups to members of the Fortune 500 in the strategic protection and management of patent portfolios. That includes the management and protection of issued patents, challenges of issued patents, due diligence transactions, patentability and freedom-to-operate opinions.

McCarter’s IP practice consists of more than 100 professionals. The team handles the entire range of intellectual property issues for clients.

Recently, the firm expanded its high-tech IP group by adding several laterals, including:

Dave Christiansen as a partner in Hartford;
Michael Sartori and Harry Park as partners in the Washington, D.C., office;
James Smedley in the Philadelphia office,
Alex Korona in the Newark office and
Michael Gnibus as a partner in the Stamford, Conn., office.

‘Great for our clients’

Over the years, McCarter and Harrington have had the same clients. They currently have several large corporate clients in common within the robotics, semi-conductor and telecommunications industries.

“McCarter’s reputation as an IP powerhouse is well recognized,” said Harrington. “Our work continues to grow, so it makes good business sense to offer a larger, experienced team, as well as more resources and additional capabilities and services, to our clients. We were looking for a comprehensive IP group that would give us the ability to grow our practices and McCarter is the perfect platform on which to do that.”

Commenting on the merger, Jonathan Sparks, chair of McCarter’s IP practice, said, “This impressive group brings to our nationally recognized IP practice additional experience and depth in the high-tech industry, which is an area where we see significant demand.”

“Having a veteran like Mark Harrington on our high-tech team is great for our clients, as we strategically add to our technical capabilities and accelerate growth at McCarter,” he said.