New IP boutique Lex Lumina aims to capitalize on academic talent

(Reuters) – Lex Lumina, a New York-based IP litigation firm that recently announced its launch, is staffed largely with attorneys who have dual careers as law professors.

The firm’s managing partner, former O’Melveny & Myers IP attorney Rhett Millsaps, launched the new firm with Christopher Sprigman, a law professor at the New York University School of Law, as well as professors Mark McKenna and Rebecca Tushnet. The lawyers crossed paths at various times during their careers and have worked on cases, academic works and amicus briefs together.

In addition to IP litigation, the new firm will focus on constitutional, antitrust, defamation and publicity issues.

According to Sprigman, the “really deep” subject matter expertise that academics bring to the practice of law and the separation they have from “one side or the other” in IP cases, provides value to clients.

McKenna, a professor of law at the University of California Los Angeles, and Tushnet, a law professor at Harvard University, have joined the new firm as of counsel and will be dedicating fewer hours to the day-to-day work of the firm than their colleagues.

“Rebecca and Chris and I will maintain our roles as full time academics, which means that this will be a part-time role for the three of us,” said McKenna.

Lex Lumina officially filed its first complaint on Oct. 8 on behalf of the band Le Tigre, who sued singer Barry Mann after Mann threatened them with copyright infringement.

The firm now represents “a handful” of clients who came along with Millsaps and Sprigman, the two partners in the firm, though Le Tigre is the first new client to join Lex Lumina directly.

The firm is looking to add partners and associates slowly and organically over time as demand increases, according to Millsaps.

“We’re not looking to just add a bunch of people and become a big firm. We put together a very formidable starting team and we’re very happy working with each other,” he said.

Millsaps also said the firm will be representing clients it likes and causes its attorneys believe in.