Former Howrey Chair Hangs Up Shingle

Robert Ruyak, the former chair of defunct Washington, D.C. law firm Howrey LLP, has started his own boutique, leaving Winston & Strawn, the firm where he worked for the past five years, Big Law Business has learned.

The antitrust and intellectual property lawyer, known in legal business circles for his management role at the once venerable Howrey, launched RuyakCherian LLP with his fellow partner Sunny Cherian.

The lawyers have created a website at www.ruyakcherian.com and in October, Law360 wrote abouta trade secrets lawsuit in which they are defending United Memories, a circuit design and layout company.

In the Law 360 report, GSI Technology Inc. accused United Memories of divulging trade secrets about GSI’s memory chip technology to Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc, which outbid GSI (with the chip technology) for a contract with Cisco Systems worth $40 million.

To date, however, the fact that Ruyak left Winston and started his own firm hasn’t been reported on — at least based on our Internet searches. Ruyak’s partner, Sunny Cherian, also worked at Winston and, according to his LinkedIn profile, works in San Francisco handling IP litigation and licensing.

We first heard the Ruyak news through an industry contact last fall, but a separate source reminded us about the development Thursday evening and provided a link to the newly created website . The firm, according to the site, also employs Arthur “Ted” Farrell, Kris Kalidindi and Brittany Ruyak.

Ruyak, of course, managed Howrey as CEO, managing partner and chairman from 2000 to 2011, about a week after partners voted to dissolve the firm. When he joined Winston in 2011, he told The American Lawyer he was eager to get back to trial work.

His clients have included Apple, American Airlines, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, SAP and Verizon Communications, according to a Winston release at the time.

Neither Ruyak or Cherian could be reached for comment on Thursday evening. Tom Fitzgerald, managing partner of Winston, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.