According to an Incisive Media article, Greenberg Traurig worked hard in 2006 to win Alcoa’s original contract for patent work. The firm went through several interviews and submitted a lengthy written proposal with biographies of its key IP attorneys.
The term I want to emphasize, however, involved a transfer of staff. “Greenberg Traurig agreed to bring in several in-house Alcoa attorneys the company was preparing to let go. That move placated Alcoa’s scientists, who had grown comfortable with their own attorneys.” Whenever a law firm agrees to handle millions of dollars of work over a period of time, it may be mutually advantageous for the firm to hire some of the in-house staff who had previously handled the work.