Carroll, Burdick & McDonough Once Again Expands Internationally

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 5, 2012) - Carroll, Burdick & McDonough (CBM), a preeminent litigation and business law firm working both nationally and internationally, today combines its operations with Schweiger & Partners, a boutique intellectual property firm with offices in Germany and Singapore.

The combined firms have attorneys fluent in more than a dozen languages, on three continents with domestic offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento and international offices in Stuttgart, Munich and Böblingen, Germany, Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. In addition to the expanded focus on intellectual property and patent litigation, key areas of practice include U.S. and worldwide products liability litigation, insurance coverage, international electronic-discovery expertise, complex commercial litigation, corporate/business transactions and class action defense.

"Intellectual property portfolios are an integral aspect of global business operations, and we are uniquely positioned as a mid-sized firm to provide clients with patent protection across three continents," said Vicki Freimann, managing partner of the domestic offices of CBM. "The combination with Schweiger & Partners is a direct result of the firm's strategic plan and offers clients an extensive and fully integrated team of IP attorneys with unmatched experience in the international arena. In addition, the group's experience in managing intellectual property and protecting patents complements our existing global litigation services."

"We have long admired the work and culture of CBM, and we share a business philosophy that emphasizes cross-border protection and rapid response to the evolving global marketplace. In addition, the firm's outstanding attorneys offer a broad range of business and litigation services that will ideally complement our IP offerings," said Martin Schweiger, founder of Schweiger & Partners.

"The combination with Schweiger & Partners, as well as our international group's other recent talent acquisitions, further strengthens our global litigation team, making the firm highly competitive in the global IP, brand protection and anti-counterfeiting areas," said Tim Smith, managing partner of the international offices of CBM.

Dr. Dana Beldiman chairs CBM's IP practice; she is professor honoris causa of the Bucerius Law School of Hamburg, Germany and Director of Bucerius' new Center for Transnational Intellectual Property, Media and Technology Law and Policy. "We are excited to be kicking-off our combination with a Global IP Summit on March 9 which will bring together all of the firm's IP attorneys, followed by our Partner Planning Meeting on March 10. A presence in the U.S., Europe and Asia provides us with a platform to offer coordinated global IP services to clients that do business multi-nationally. We are particularly well equipped to provide brand protection and enforcement services in South East Asia," Dr. Beldiman noted. "As the firm grows, our highest priority in recruiting continues to be lateral partners experienced in intellectual property, complex commercial litigation and corporate/business for our San Francisco and Los Angeles offices."

In addition to Schweiger & Partners, CBM has added international partners Dr. Heiko Vogler (Stuttgart), Jörg Staudenmayer (Böblingen), Christian Rolf (Stuttgart) and Paolo Beconcini (Beijing) and associates Kelly Liu (Beijing), Dr. Zohar Efroni (Stuttgart) and Judith Walz (Böblingen) in 2012.

The combined firms have offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento and international offices in Stuttgart, Munich and Böblingen, Germany, Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. The firm represents local, national and international clients in a diverse litigation and business practice, focused on appellate litigation; complex insurance matters; products liability litigation; corporate, commercial and real estate transactions; real estate and construction litigation; complex commercial, business and tort litigation; labor and employment litigation and counseling; and intellectual property litigation and counseling, patent litigation, licensing and development and brand protection. On the net: www.cbmlaw.com.