Husch Blackwell Builds in Minneapolis with 11-Lawyer IP Team

Husch Blackwell is picking up an 11-lawyer team from Minneapolis intellectual property boutique Patterson Thuente, continuing the firm’s growth in the Twin Cities.

Patterson Thuente partners Jeffer Ali, Daidre Burgess, and Tom Dickson are joining Husch Blackwell as partners. James Patterson and David Cleveland join as of counsel, while Mike Gates, Paul Haun, and Nicholas Kuhlmann will become senior counsel at Husch Blackwell.

In addition to the 11 attorneys, additional law clerks, professionals and staff will join the firm Jan. 1. These additions will more than double the size of Husch Blackwell’s Minneapolis office, which first opened in May 2023.

Husch Blackwell has added more than 100 lawyers across its offices in 2023. In October, it picked up a four lawyer team from Dallas fiduciary litigation boutique Norris & Weber and two lawyers from Hedrick Kring Bailey. The firm brought in $555 million in revenue last year, up from $476 million in 2021, according to figures reported by the American Lawyer.

Husch Blackwell opened its office in the Twin Cities with the expectation that it would continue to grow and quickly learned of Patterson, which was located in the office same building, Husch Blackwell chief executive Paul Eberle said in an interview.

Patterson, an IP boutique that works with a mix of clients from startups to Fortune 500 companies, was looking for scale and needed to provide more services beyond its IP practice, said Tom Dickson, the firm’s managing partner.

“We started having discussions with a number of different entities of different sizes, and about five months ago, it was clear that Husch was a great fit in offering us so many of these opportunities,” he said.

Minneapolis is home to the headquarters of a number of Fortune 500 companies and also has a vibrant startup ecosystem, Eberle said.

The city is “a hub for innovation in a number of growing industries that are of interest to us, and adding patent, licensing, trademark and copyright capabilities enhances the value we bring to clients,” Catherine Hanaway, Husch Blackwell’s chair, said in a statement.

Hanaway, a former US attorney and Missouri House speaker, took over as Husch Blackwell chair in 2021. She said that the firm is looking to expand its space in Minneapolis and is considering a number of options in the downtown area.

“I would expect in three to five years that Minneapolis could be one of our larger offices,” Eberle said. “There’s that much opportunity there.”