J. Steven Baughman, a longtime IP litigator at Ropes & Gray, is leaving the firm for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Baughman is the latest high-profile lateral recruit to Paul Weiss, which last year hired top M&A partner Scott Barshay and bolted on a well-regarded antitrust team from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.
Baughman, 48, heads to Paul Weiss after 21 years at Ropes & Gray, which he joined in 1996 after two years as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell. At Ropes & Gray, Baughman spent three years in its Tokyo office, returning to the U.S. in 2010 to work out of Washington, D.C., where he became chair of the firm’s post-grant U.S. Patent and Trademark Office invalidity challenge and trial practice.
