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[TataBox]

Are there any downsides to having everything under the same roof, meaning your patent prosecuted and litigated under the same roof?

Regards,

[ababab]

Are there any downsides to having everything under the same roof, meaning your patent prosecuted and litigated under the same roof?

The old line (commonly invoked by lit-only shops vying for a pros-lit firm's client) is that the original pros firm would/could be conflicted during the litigation. 

The theory went like this:
Every defendant alleges IE. 
Which means the prosecuting atty will have to testify. 
Which means he can't be an effective advocate as well as a witness.
Which means his partners can't be effective advocates either.

A new theory has emerged since the role of IE in most patent lit has shrunk to microscopic proportions, and since counsel & judges have learned how to handle the supposed conflicts.

The new theory is much simpler:
Those guys sort of know how to get a patent for you, but if they really knew how to litigate patents they wouldn't still be writing them.
We don't write them (unless our big clients insist), we just litigate them.
We can do it for twice the price and with much more glamor, so give us the work.

The new theory usually works.

[klaviernista]

Ababab is right in that all defendant allege inequitable conduct, which means that the prosecuting attorney will have to testify.  This can create issues, because the internal prosecution files may be considered privileged, and the proseucting attorney may be barred from looking at them (see the recent Golden Hour decision in the ED of Texas, where this exact problem came up).

That said, my firm has substantial prosecution and litigation practices, and in many instances, we handle both sides for the same client.  I'm sure there are internal issues that have to be worked out (setting up Chinese walls, etc.), but I have never heard of our firm turning down a litigation for something as generic as the fact that we also handle the client's prosecution work.