Fenwick & West

Fenwick & West LLP is a law firm of more than 350 attorneys with offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, Santa Monica and Shanghai. The firm's practice focuses on technology and life sciences companies and start-ups.[2] Fenwick's lawyers are divided among four primary practice groups, with numerous subgroups within each: Corporate, Litigation, Tax and Intellectual Property. It is ranked as one of the 100 largest law firms in the United States, and is one of the most prestigious and selective law firms according to American Lawyer magazine.[1] Fenwick has worked on a variety of high-profile matters for clients such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Uber, Airbnb, American Express, Dropbox, Apple, Etsy, Reddit, Coinbase, and Cisco. The firm also frequently represents prominent venture capital firms and other technology investors.

Fenwick & West LLP
HeadquartersSilicon Valley Center
Mountain View, California
No. of attorneys350[1]
Major practice areasCorporate, litigation, tax, intellectual property, privacy, labor and employment[1]
Revenue$375 million (2017)[1]
Profit per equity partner$1.5 million (2017)[1]
Date founded1972
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitehttps://www.fenwick.com/

Background

In 2008, IP Business & Law listed Fenwick as one of only 20 "go to law firms on the cutting edge of patent litigation,"[3] and in 2011, Global Law Experts named Fenwick & West the #1 antitrust law firm.[4]

Larry Kramer, dean of Stanford Law School, told Bloomberg Businessweek that Fenwick "is one of the great indigenous firms of Silicon Valley," noting that "[the firm] understands how the Valley works better than most, everything from how to raise money, where to incorporate, and how to nurture and grow a startup."[2]

Prior to taking Facebook public in 2012,[5] American Lawyer said, "Fenwick’s work was critical in allowing the social media company to stay private for so long." The firm's patent prosecution team brought Facebook in as an intellectual property client a few months before their corporate colleagues in 2007.[6]

"Where many big firms have eschewed patent prosecution as commodity work that goes to the lowest bidder, Fenwick has embraced it as central to the mission of its technology and life sciences clients and start-ups whose small IP portfolios can be the crown jewels of their business."[6]

Milestones

2014

2013
  • Fenwick announces a new version of the Series Seed Documents on GitHub, curated by Fenwick Partner Ted Wang.[8]

2012
  • Fenwick is the #1 issuer adviser on IPOs both globally and in the United States; in the U.S., the firm handled 41 percent of the IPO market by volume and globally, Fenwick handled 17 percent[9]
  • Fenwick represents Facebook in its $1 billion purchase of Instagram[10]
  • Fenwick represents Facebook in its IPO, the largest Internet IPO in U.S. history[5][11]

2011

2010
  • Fenwick partner Ralph Pais creates Flex by Fenwick[2][17]

2000

Clients
  • Apple Computer: Apple was a very early client of the firm; the firm advised Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak on the incorporation of the company and also advised Apple on the creation of the first shrinkwrap license agreement in 1976.[19]
  • Amazon.com: Fenwick defended the 1-Click patent for Amazon.[19]
  • eBay: Fenwick advised eBay on its IPO.[19]
  • Facebook: In 2012, Fenwick & West represented Facebook in the largest tech IPO in history.[5][11] Fenwick also advised Facebook on its acquisition of Instagram in 2013.[10]
  • Oracle: Fenwick advised Oracle on its IPO.
  • Wang Laboratories: Created the first clean room protocols for software, which later became an industry standard to prevent IP infringement.[19]
  • Virgin America: Fenwick advised the airline on its initial rounds of debt and equity financing in 2007.[20]

References
  1. "Fenwick & West".
  2. Stone, Brad (April 7, 2011). "Why Techies Like to Friend Fenwick & West - BusinessWeek". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
  3. http://www.fenwick.com/services/practices/Pages/intellectual-property.aspx
  4. "Fenwick Named 2011 California Antitrust Law Firm of the Year" (Press release). Fenwick & West. October 7, 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  5. "Fenwick & West and Simpson Thacher lead as Facebook takes US listing".
  6. Ross, Todd (June 2012). "Knocking Out the Competition: How Fenwick & West won the world's most high-profile IPO" (PDF). The American Lawyer.
  7. Rosen, Ellen (February 20, 2014). "Weil Advises Facebook as WhatsApp Uses Fenwick: Business of Law". Bloomberg. Bloomberg LP. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  8. Kolodny, Lora (June 3, 2013). "Seeking Seed Funding? Open-Source Forms Might Cut Legal Bill". VentureWire. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
  9. "Bloomberg 2012 Global Legal Advisor League Tables" (PDF). Bloomberg. Bloomberg LP. January 2, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  10. "Facebook To Buy Instagram for $1 Billion in Biggest Acquisition Yet". AmLaw Daily. April 9, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  11. "Facebook Will Have The Biggest Tech IPO Ever, Raising $16 Billion With $38 Share Price". TechCrunch. May 17, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  12. Masnick, Mike, Judge Rules That Righthaven Lawsuit Was A Sham; Threatens Sanctions. June 14, 2011.
  13. Green, Steve, Ruling that Righthaven misled court likely to be felt in other cases. July 14, 2011.
  14. Anderson, Nate, Righthaven learning it can't change the facts after it sues. July 14, 2011
  15. Opsahl, Kurt, Righthaven Ordered to Pay $5,000 in Sanctions for Its Misrepresentations to Court. July 15, 2011.
  16. "North America Awards winners revealed". Managing Intellectual Property. March 29, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  17. Young, Eric (October 3, 2010). "Fenwick's Flex sweats the small stuff". The Business Journals. San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  18. "Extending Their Domain", ALM Media, LLC, New York City, April 2000.
  19. "History". Fenwick & West LLP. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  20. "Fenwick & West guides Virgin's US entry". The Lawyer. August 29, 2007. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
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