By Casey Sullivan
Jan 10 (Reuters) - William Coats, the onetime managing
partner of Kaye Scholer's Silicon Valley office in California
and intellectual property trial lawyer, is leaving the New York
law firm for Greenberg Traurig, he said.
Coats represents clients in the entertainment industry such
as Pioneer Corporation and Lucasfilm Ltd and will move over to
Greenberg Traurig's Silicon Valley office as a partner by
Monday, he said.
Coats joined Kaye Scholer in March 2010 as the Silicon
Valley office's managing partner but later relinquished
managerial duties to focus on his practice of law, he said.
He said he decided to join Greenberg Traurig because of the
firm's strong entertainment practice.
Greenberg Traurig, an 1,800-lawyer Florida law firm, has
prioritized recruiting intellectual property lawyers, focusing
on advising clients in branding, patent prosecution and
technology-related matters, according to Silicon Valley
co-managing shareholder Heather Meeker.
In late 2011, the firm recruited Richard Pettus, the deputy
head of King & Spalding's intellectual property department in
New York. Last year it recruited Pettus's former colleague
Jonathan Ball from King & Spalding in New York.
A Kaye Scholer spokesman did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. Coats declined to comment about which Kaye
Scholer lawyers, if any, he would bring with him to Greenberg
Traurig.
Follow us on Twitter @ReutersLegal | Like us on Facebook