John Scherling and Jane Hahn staff the new San Diego office of Sughrue Mion PLLC, an international intellectual property law firm.

From their spacious if empty offices on the 16th floor of the Koll Center on Broadway, former federal prosecutors John Scherling and Jane Hahn can view the nearby federal courthouse where they will be spending considerable time. The attorneys are staffing the new San Diego digs of Sughrue Mion PLLC, the global intellectual property law firm. The Irish-named firm is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Sughrue Mion (pronounced shoo-grew my-on) selected the attorneys for their past experience as trial lawyers.

The offices are bare, awaiting tenant improvements and furniture. Until those are installed in March, Scherling and Hahn are working out of temporary space on the Koll’s 17th floor (619-238-3545).

Scherling, 46, spent 15 years with the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Diego as a prosecutor in the criminal and civil divisions. The Iowa State University and Vanderbilt graduate has technical expertise in biochemistry and microbiology. Hahn, 45, was an assistant U.S. Attorney in the criminal division of the Southern District of California and handled hundreds of criminal matters. The University of Chicago Law School and Harvard University graduate says she tried 15 criminal jury trials with 14 convictions in cases involving drugs, fraud, bank robbery, kidnapping and money laundering.

“Sughrue Mion is known as the No. 1 patent prosecution firm in the country,” says Hahn, citing 3,000 cases prosecuted by the company last year. Scherling says San Diego is a good fit for the law firm because it is home to a large number of biotechnology and medical device companies — all having intellectual property to protect.

Scherling, a resident of University City, and Hahn, a Coronado resident, have worked together on one case or another for more than 20 years. And they’re both convinced they are in the perfect spot for their work. “It’s extremely important to be less than a block away from the courthouse,” says Scherling. “And Downtown, well, it’s just a very vibrant place to be.”

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Paul Twardowski

When Hines purchased Golden Eagle Plaza last August, it was only natural to make it the hub of its growing real estate investments in the county. The international real estate company installed Paul Twardowski, an eight-year executive, to head the San Diego office in the B Street building. Twardowski was responsible for managing the acquisition of Golden Eagle Plaza as well as the earlier purchase of Pacific Plaza in Torrey Hills. Last month, Hines acquired a three-acre parcel along La Jolla Village Drive in UTC for construction of a 450,000-square-foot office high-rise that is expected to go online in the first quarter of 2008. Previous Hines projects include Petco Park, Tony Gwynn Stadium and the Aztec Athletic Center at SDSU.

Before moving to San Diego, Twardowski managed Hines’ purchase and asset management of Union Bank Plaza in downtown Los Angeles. The Princeton graduate held real estate management positions in New York City and Sydney, Australia before joining Hines.

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SRM Development has retained KMA Architecture & Engineering to redesign a new 12-story mixed-use building called Axiom, located at the north end of Island Avenue and Market Street between 13th and 14th streets in East Village. SRM is based in Spokane, Wash. The Centre City Development Corp. is helping fund the project, which allows the developer to sell 20 percent of the units at below market rates. The 40,000-square-foot site and 261,000-square-foot building will consist of 216 condominiums. Axiom also will have 7,000 square feet of ground level retail space and three levels of underground parking. Information about cost of construction and prices is not yet available. Construction starts in the fourth quarter.

The KMA project team is comprised of Ron Bastin, Jim Belmont, Don Blair, Joe Godlewski, Claudia Juarez, Adam Mayberry and Robb Walker. KMA is also providing mechanical and plumbing engineering services. The structural engineer is Glotman Simpson and the civil engineer is Nasland Engineering.

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Metrowork rendering

Work has begun on Metrowork, a $25 million office condominium project said to be the first of its kind to be built from the ground up in Downtown San Diego. The nine-story, 27-unit Class A building at 1350 Columbia St. is being constructed by Swinerton Builders. Berkson Realty Advisors LLC is the developer. The building will contain 60,000 square feet of office space and 20,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. The design is by Baldauf, Catton, Von Eckartsberg. Construction is expected to be completed by early 2007. For more information, visit metroworksd.com.

To report news on firms that are abandoning, embracing or expanding in the 92101 ZIP code, send submissions to Manny Cruz, manny@sandiegometro.com.