Fish & Richardson names CEO

John Adkisson, a patent litigator in Fish & Richardson’s Twin Cities office, has been chosen to lead the firm as principal and CEO.

He succeeds Peter Devlin, who stepped down from the role in early February after 20 years.

Under Devlin’s 20 years of leadership, the firm expanded its geographic footprint with six new offices, while quadrupling its revenue and doubling the number of attorneys at the firm.

Adkisson, who specialises in patent infringement litigation in the pharmaceutical, biosimilar, and medical device sectors, was elected by a vote of the firm’s principals late last week.

“We are incredibly grateful for Peter’s leadership over the past two decades,” said Adkisson. “I am personally thankful for the professional and thoughtful way he has approached this transition process. He has done it with the same grace and selflessness that defined his tenure at Fish.”

Adkisson joined Fish in 2001 and has been a trial attorney for 24 years. He’s served as the managing group leader for the firm’s 200-plus lawyer litigation group for the past three years.

Adkisson plans to maintain his litigation practice, in addition to serving as CEO and principal of the firm.

He added: “I love litigating patent cases. I also think it’s important that the firm president [is] in the trenches doing all the tasks that our practising lawyers face every day—navigating conflicts, entering time, managing budgets, and hearing client concerns.”

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