The following is excerpted from a July 10, 2009 article by Brian Baxter of The American Lawyer:

Only a day after Dewey & LeBoeuf helped itself to the cream of Cooley Godward Kronish's corporate practice, the firm lost three IP lawyers, including its practice co-chair, to noted Dallas-based trial firm McKool Smith.

IP litigation co-chair Dirk Thomas, partner Robert Auchter and of counsel Jeffrey Frey are leaving 1,200-lawyer Dewey for the cozier confines of 120-lawyer McKool. All three are joining the new firm as partners.

"We're particularly excited about joining a platform like McKool with the reputation that it has," Thomas says. "They've really had a meteoric run up the chain with respect to establishing [the firm] as one of the go-to shops in IP litigation."

Last year McKool teamed up with its former adversaries at Morrison & Foerster for a $59 million win over Samsung in a patent case in East Texas. McKool's Samuel Baxter and MoFo's Harold McElhinny had previously found themselves on opposing sides in a landmark IP trial that saw Baxter emerge on the winning side in 2006.

McKool opened its D.C. office in September 2007 with a focus on ITC work. The Dewey laterals -- all of whom do ITC work, in addition to general IP litigation in U.S. district courts -- will expand the firm's presence to seven lawyers in the city.