Fenwick & West LLP is a full service law firm

Law firm

A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...

 with a primary focus on technology

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 and life sciences clients ranging from start-ups to established companies of national and international prominence. The corporate, intellectual property, litigation and tax groups service clients from a wide range of additional industries. Approximately 300 attorneys work from offices in Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

 and San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

; Boise, Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

; and Seattle, Washington. The firm is headquartered in Mountain View, California

Mountain View, California

-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...

.

History

Founded by four attorneys who moved to Palo Alto in 1972, the firm's history parallels the growth of technology in Silicon Valley: Fenwick & West incorporated Apple Computer

Apple Computer

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

 in 1976 and took Oracle Corporation

Oracle Corporation

Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...

 public in 1986. Since then, the firm has represented leading technology companies and underwriters in numerous high profile IPOs and led many landmark M&A transactions including the largest Internet merger in history—VeriSign

VeriSign

Verisign, Inc. is an American company based in Dulles, Virginia that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains and the .cc and .tv country-code...

's $21 billion acquisition of Network Solutions—and the largest software merger in history: Symantec

Symantec

Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...

's $13 billion acquisition of VERITAS.

Rankings & Achievements

• The 2nd-largest law firm in Silicon Valley, with more than 175 attorneys in the Mountain View office, and one of the top five San Francisco Bay Area law firms
• Named one of ten Bay Area winners of the 2008 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility, distinguishing the Firm as one of the country's top practitioners of workplace flexibility and the only law firm on the list.
• The first law firm certified by Santa Clara County as an environmentally sustainable "Green Business" for efforts to conserve natural resources.
• One of the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area 2007 and 2008 (San Francisco Business Times/Silicon Valley Jose Business Journal)
• Secured a $400 million settlement for Compuware Corporation, a $75 million jury award for Asyst Technologies, Inc., and $25 million for Informatica Corp.
  Informatica
  Informatica Corporation is a NASDAQ listed company with ticker INFA. Founded in 1993, its headquarters is in Redwood City, California. Founded by Diaz Nesamoney and Gaurav Dhillon...
  
  , three of the largest patent and intellectual property verdicts in recent years

Areas of Practice

The primary practice groups provide in-depth services in four areas:

• Corporate: Corporate Finance and Securities Law; Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits; Mergers and Acquisitions; Start-ups and Venture Capital
• Intellectual Property: Antitrust and Unfair Competition; Copyright; Copyright Litigation; Patent; Patent Litigation; Technology Transactions; Trademark; Trademark Litigation; Trade Secret; Trade Secret Litigation
• Litigation: Antitrust and Unfair Competition; Copyright Litigation; Employment Practices; Electronic Information Management; Patent Litigation; Privacy and Information Security; Securities Litigation; Tax Litigation; Trade Secret Litigation; Trademark Litigation
• Tax: Tax Litigation; Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits

Attorneys based in all four primary groups also participate in International Law. Services include structuring and financing of overseas businesses, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and the representation of U.S. companies investing in and doing business abroad, particularly in China, India, and Israel.

Industries

Fenwick & West's clients range across the entire technology spectrum, e.g.

• Cleantech
• Communications
• Computer Hardware
• Entertainment
• Internet
• Life Sciences
• Semiconductors
• Software

Diversity

Fenwick & West is currently ranked the 2nd most-diverse large law firm in the United States by Minority Law Journal. The diversity of the firm's executive management committees has increased steadily over the last four years with each new partnership election.

• Ranked by MultiCultural Law Magazine as the #1 U.S. law firm for Asian-American diversity and sixth for overall racial diversity
• Women represent almost 33% of all attorneys and 45% of non-partner attorneys
• Minorities represent 28% of all attorneys and 38% of non-partner attorneys
• Women comprise over 30% of all executive management committees
• Racial minorities comprise 18% of all executive management committees

The commitment to diversity extends beyond the office to Fenwick's involvement with bar associations, pro bono work, and law schools.

Recruiting

Fenwick & West espouses a culture that emphasizes cooperation between team members, enables individuals to pursue interests across practice groups, and rewards pro bono work by attorneys and staff. Diverse backgrounds and unique personal experiences provide the basis for creative problem solving in a collegial work environment. Three associates are invited to join the partnership every year. Approximately 30 law school students are selected each year as summer associates. Fenwick & West has been recognized as an outstanding place to work by Fortune Magazine.

Pro Bono

For more than 30 years Fenwick & West has served the community by offering legal services to persons and organizations that could not otherwise afford effective legal counsel. The attorneys recognize that providing legal services is not only an essential part of their professional responsibility, but also an excellent opportunity to gain valuable practical experience, learn new areas of the law, and contribute to the community. Working with a variety of local and national organizations, Fenwick & West's pro bono efforts include:

• Fellowships
• Child Advocacy
• Civil Rights
• Impact Litigation
• Appellate Project
• Street Law
• AIDS Project
• Death Penalty
• Corporate
• Intellectual Property
• Tax
• Political Asylum/Immigration

Publications

Fenwick & West periodically publishes print bulletins and e-mail alerts to update clients on new laws, regulations, and court interpretations. The topics cover a range of topics, including, but not limited to:

• Venture financings
• Intellectual property decisions and disputes
• Privacy issues affecting high technology and on-line commerce
• Employment law-related developments
• Publicly-traded corporations, boards, and executives

Events

Fenwick & West routinely sponsors events that offer MCLE credit to attorneys and alumni. Attorneys participate as attendees and speakers at events that range from local information briefings to international conferences.

External links

• See this firm's profile and run a side-by-side comparison with other firms on Martindale.com