- U.S. & Americas
- Promotions
- New York, Santa Monica, Silicon Valley
- Disputes, M&A
Fenwick has elected five lawyers to its partnership effective 1 January 2027. Three are based in New York, according to LawFuel. The partners-elect are Dargaye Churnet (litigation and patent disputes, Santa Monica), Glenn Foulds (intellectual property and life sciences, Silicon Valley), Adine Mitrani (IP and technology transactions, New York), Charles Moulins (litigation, New York) and Zachary Portnoy (corporate and M&A, New York).
Firm Chair Richard Dickson said the class "reflects the breadth of Fenwick," per Attorney at Law Magazine. The firm now counts more than 1,000 professionals and over 600 lawyers, patent agents, engineers and scientists across Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Seattle, New York and Washington, D.C., per LawFuel.
A class of five, up from three for 2026 and trailing nine for 2025
The 2027 class of five is larger than the three lawyers Fenwick promoted for 2026, Julia Arruda, Christopher Crawford and Sean McElroy, in Santa Monica and Seattle. It matches the five promoted for 2024 and is smaller than the nine promoted for 2025, per ABF Journal.
Three of the five are in New York, where Fenwick opened an office in June 2016 with seven lawyers handling patent, startup and venture capital, M&A and corporate work, per Fenwick. A decade later, New York accounts for most of the new partners. That shows how Fenwick's Silicon Valley practice has built its East Coast presence.
Rea and a Winston & Strawn IP group joined Fenwick in New York in 2026
The promotions come after a year of lateral hiring in the same market. In March 2026 Fenwick added corporate partner Alex Rea to its New York startup and venture capital practice. Dickson cited focused expansion across New York, Washington, D.C. and Boston, per Fenwick.
In April 2026 the firm recruited a five-lawyer IP litigation group from Winston & Strawn, partners Krishnan Padmanabhan and Scott Border plus three associates, across New York and Washington, D.C., per The American Lawyer. Padmanabhan had been managing partner of Winston's New York office and co-chair of its TMT group. He moved as Winston's merger with Taylor Wessing faced a delay. Promoting lawyers internally while hiring laterally in the same city gives Fenwick a disputes and corporate bench faster than either approach alone.
AI-focused IP, disputes and M&A as patent cases shift toward district courts
The new partners work in practices drawing strong demand. Mitrani counsels on AI and machine learning, SaaS and media technology transactions. Moulins defends companies in the AI space in high-stakes litigation. Portnoy advises on M&A across AI, cybersecurity, semiconductors and software. AI is now at the center of IP litigation, with disputes moving from training inputs to model outputs, per IPWatchdog. Law firms' technology and knowledge-management spending rose 11.6 percent in the second quarter of 2026 as clients pressed for concrete AI strategies, per Bloomberg Law.
Churnet's practice centers on inter partes review. Petitions fell from 1,314 in 2024 to 1,208 in 2025 as PTAB tightening pushed more patent fights into district-court litigation, per Law360. That change shifts value toward trial lawyers over PTAB specialists. Portnoy's promotion comes as Big Law demand surged on an M&A revival in the first half of 2026, with 47 deals over 10 billion dollars and a 48 percent jump in total deal value to 2.8 trillion dollars, per Bloomberg Law.
New York recorded 186 lateral partner hires in the first quarter of 2026, a three-year high led by Dechert, Sidley, Kirkland and Ropes & Gray and driven by transactional practices, per New York Law Journal. Fenwick is adding three new partners in that market. The firm also climbed to No. 19 on The American Lawyer's 2026 A-List, up 25 spots, per Fenwick.
A technology-and-life-sciences firm is promoting lawyers internally in the same practices and city where it has been hiring laterally. Fenwick is building its AI-focused IP, disputes and corporate practices on the East Coast as deal volume and AI litigation both rise.
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