White & Case opens Palo Alto office

Black joins White & Case from Jackson Tufts Cole & Black as partner. Roy Bartlett also joins as partner from the same firm along with Ellen McGinty King who joins as counsel.

Steven Betensky brings the partner count in the new office to three. He joins from White & Case's New York base.

The US firm is the latest in a line of New York practices to move into the Silicon Valley. Davis Polk & Wardwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett announced plans to set up offices in the region in the summer.

Black specialises in IP litigation and has worked on several high-profile cases including representing Advanced Micro Devices in a series of licensing and copyright cases with Intel.

Last year he lead a trial team that achieved the largest jury verdict ever rendered on behalf of the US under the False Claims Act without intervention of the Department of Justice.