HIgh-tech law is booming.(biotechnology and high-tech companies' recruitment of lawyers)

Weintraub, others go for patent lawyers

Trying to increase the legal advice it can offer to high-tech and biotech companies, Weintraub Genshlea & Sproul has hired a prominent local patent attorney away from the boutique firm he helped start a decade ago.

Joseph Gerber, one of the founders of Gerber, Ritchey & O'Banion, signed on with Weintraub on June 1.

He joins a growing intellectual property practice at Weintraub, one of Sacramento's largest law firms.

It's part of a nationwide trend of full-service law firms expanding their highly specialized services. Other large firms in the area have jumped into patent law as local technology industries grow.

"We've sent a lot of work from our clients to the Bay Area," said Chris Chediak, who heads the intellectual property practice group at Weintraub. …