Irvin (Gene) Branch Joins Perkins Coie's Denver Office

DENVER (August 16, 2010) – Perkins Coie has announced that Irvin (Gene) Branch has joined the firm's Denver office as a partner.  Branch will be part of the firm's Intellectual Property practice.

With degrees in engineering, science, business and the law, Branch brings unique depth to clients and their intellectual property needs. He works diligently with clients to enhance their company's value through targeted innovation and strategic development of their patent portfolios. To that end, Branch's practice focuses on patent prosecution in the electronics, software and mechanical arts, with a particular emphasis on business method and computer-implemented inventions in the financial services industry.  Branch has drafted and prosecuted numerous US and international patent applications.

Prior to joining the firm, Branch was a partner at Townsend and Townsend and Crew. While there, he represented several large integrated financial services companies including Western Union and the United Services Automobile Association (USAA).

"Our office is growing dramatically," said Denver managing partner Robert Miller.  "We are pleased to welcome Gene to the firm. We know his international intellectual property experience will be an asset to our team and to our clients."

Since 1997, the firm's Denver office has provided legal services to clients based in the Rocky Mountain region and nationwide.  Such legal services include commercial, IP and franchise litigation, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, telecommunications, white collar criminal defense, environmental and natural resources, labor and employment, corporate and commercial finance, real estate and product liability.

Branch joins Perkins Coie's Intellectual Property practice.  Ranked by Law360 as one of the largest IP practices in the country, the practice includes more than 200 lawyers focused on IP litigation, patent and trademark prosecution, technology licensing, copyrights, and trade secret and unfair competition counseling. The firm's IP clients include companies in all technologies and industries around the world. The IP practice also has extensive experience litigating patent and trademark infringement actions, Internet-related disputes and gray market and anti-counterfeiting claims for companies in the software, online retail, search and electronics industries.

Branch is an active contributor to the Colorado School of Mines' 8th Continent Project, an organization founded for the purpose of commercializing space-derived technologies. In addition to being a licensed attorney, Gene is licensed as a Professional Engineer in Colorado.

Branch's addition to the Denver office comes only a few months after the firm announced the addition of M&A attorney Nate Ford, and two other attorneys in the business group, who joined from Faegre & Benson.  The firm also recently announced that Markus Funk, a former Assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago, will be joining the Denver office later this fall.

The addition of these new attorneys in Denver, along with the recent opening of the firm's San Diego and Dallas offices, reflects Perkins' continuing efforts to expand its national presence through strategic acquisitions and lateral hires. Since 2005 the firm has added more than 200 lateral attorneys in a variety of practice groups.

The firm has been recognized for its accomplishments in the legal profession, its commitment to diversity and its excellent client service. In January, the firm was recognized by FORTUNE magazine for the eighth consecutive year as being one of the "100 Best Places to Work." In addition, the firm was recently named as one of the "2010 Top Ten Family Friendly Firms" by Yale Law Women.  For the second consecutive year, the firm was named one of the "Best Law Firms for Women" by Working Mother magazine and national consulting firm Flex-Time Lawyers LLC and also earned the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's top rating of 100 percent in the 2009 and 2010 Corporate Equality Index.   In addition, the firm received the Corporate Partnership Award for Supporting People with Disabilities.