After its Freshfields hires, what next for WilmerHale in Europe?

WilmerHale eyes Europe expansion following Freshfields hires as firm sets out to boost global reach.

Earlier this year, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr made waves in the London patent litigation market with the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Justin Watts and senior associate Matthew Shade, who joined the US firm as a partner.

The hires were the first WilmerHale had made in London since 2014, when it launched a London intellectual property (IP) litigation practice with the hire of Dentons’ then UK patents head Anthony Trenton, and the first since it decided to downsize in the UK and move away from transactional work in 2015.