Todd C. Jacobs
Todd C. Jacobs
Michael P. Conway
Michael P. Conway

Grippo & Elden LLC is combining with Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, a growing national litigation firm that has added four new offices in four years.

The combined firm will begin operations March 1, and the Chicago office will be based at Grippo & Elden’s current location at 111 S. Wacker Drive.

The firm will be known as Shook, Hardy & Bacon.

“Grippo & Elden’s sophisticated commercial litigation practice and its Chicago location fit perfectly with our strategic objectives,” said John F. Murphy, chair of Shook.

“The addition of these superb lawyers increases the depth and breadth of our national complex commercial litigation practice.”

Grippo & Elden has 25 attorneys and is a general commercial litigation boutique firm founded in Chicago in 1988.

It focuses on business and commercial litigation, including antitrust, class action, mergers and acquisitions litigation, insurance coverage, private equity and intellectual property matters.

Among its clients are private equity firms and Fortune 500 companies such as Liberty Mutual Insurance, ArcelorMittal and Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co.

Founded in 1889, Shook is based in Kansas City, Mo., and focuses on complex commercial litigation, product liability and intellectual property.

The firm has represented clients such as Sprint and Nike and has worked with Microsoft Corp. on intellectual property matters.

With the addition of Grippo & Elden, the firm will have more than 500 attorneys in 11 U.S. offices along with offices in London and Geneva.

Grippo & Elden principal Michael P. Conway will become vice chair of the combined firm’s business litigation and corporate services section.

Both firms have similar clients, he said, and one of his goals is to build the business litigation practice into a key area of Shook’s business, particularly in the intellectual property practice.

“It’s an exciting opportunity,” he said. “We have a great reputation in Chicago, and it represents a great opportunity to expand our practice in a national and international scope.”

Todd C. Jacobs, who served as managing principal at Grippo & Elden from 2006 to 2014, will be managing partner of the Chicago office.

Attorneys at both firms have known each other for years, Murphy said, and Shook has always respected Grippo & Elden’s work. Shook has been attracted to Chicago for its location as a major financial market and connection to clients.

Part of Shook’s strategic planning includes building its commercial litigation practice in IP matters, Murphy said, and the combination of location and Grippo & Elden’s legal talent and experience in that area made it a perfect fit.

“If you get good people that know what they’re doing, then a lot of other things will take care of themselves,” he said.

In the past four years, Shook has also added offices in Philadelphia, Denver and Seattle.

Murphy, who has been firm chair for nearly 14 years, said each move has been strategic and not merely for the sake of expansion.

He touted the addition of the Seattle office in 2013, for example, as an important move for the firm’s IP practice.

Cybercrime and data security and privacy have been top concerns for general counsels, Murphy said.

Shook’s Seattle office has three attorneys who were formerly at Microsoft, including the former head of the digital crimes unit and a former chief intellectual property counsel at the tech giant.

As with other acquisitions, Murphy said, Shook plans to have a Kansas City attorney either relocate to Chicago or spend a significant amount of time here.

“Everyone here is obviously excited,” Conway said. “We’re ready to hit the ground running.”