Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Headquarters Palo Alto, California
No. of offices 15
No. of attorneys 698
No. of employees 1567 (As of 03/01/2016)
Major practice areas Corporate Law, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Antitrust, and Regulatory
Key people Larry Sonsini
Revenue $735 million (2015)
Date founded 1961
Company type P.C.
Website
Official website

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) is a law firm in the United States that specializes in business, securities, and intellectual property law. The firm's Chairman, Larry Sonsini, is well known as an attorney and advisor to technology companies.[1]

WSGR provides legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, as well as the venture capital firms, private equity firms, and investment banks that finance them.[2] The firm's clients operate in a range of technology industries, including the biotech,[3] communications,[4] digital media,[5] energy,[6] financial services,[7] medical devices,[8] mobile,[9] semiconductor,[10] and software[11] sectors.

Among the firm's clients are Amazon.com,[12] Autodesk,[13] Expedia,[14] Google,[15][16] Hewlett-Packard,[17] HTC Corporation,[18] Juniper Networks,[19] LinkedIn,[20] Mylan,[21] Netflix,[22] Tesla,[23][24] Twitter,[25] and Salesforce.com.[26] The firm also represents companies in new, fast-growing sectors of the technology economy, including Box,[27] Flipboard,[28] Invuity,[29] Juno Therapeutics,[30] Mesoblast,[31] MINDBODY,[32] OnDeck Capital,[33] Solar City,[34] Square,[35] and Sunrun.[36]

Core areas of experience include antitrust,[37] corporate, finance, governance, intellectual property, litigation, privacy, regulatory, and tax.

Locations

The firm's headquarters are on Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, California, as a part of the Stanford Research Park.

In total, the firm has offices in ten major cities in the U.S., including Austin, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; New York City; Palo Alto, California; San Diego, California; San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; Washington, D.C.; and Wilmington, Delaware. Outside of the United States, it has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, China; and Brussels, Belgium.

History

WSGR was founded in 1961 as McCloskey, Wilson, Mosher & Martin in Palo Alto, California. Since its launch, the firm concentrated on the representation of emerging technology companies and venture capitalists. For example, in 1969, the firm helped form Mayfield Fund, one of the first major venture capital firms. In 1970, John B. Goodrich joins the firm. Sonsini and Mario Rosati joined in 1966 and 1971, respectively. In 1978, the firm takes on the name it has had since: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, PC.

In 1980, WSGR represented Apple Inc. in its much-publicized IPO. The firm was also involved in representing companies in the semiconductor industry, like LSI Logic, Altera, Cirrus Logic, Lattice Semiconductor, and Cypress Semiconductor. These companies were among those that helped Silicon Valley earn its name.

For many years, the firm had only one office, in Palo Alto. In late 1998, the firm opened its first national office, in Kirkland, Washington, led by partner Patrick Schultheis. Within the next few years, the firm opened offices in Austin, Texas, San Francisco, Northern Virginia, New York, Salt Lake City, and San Diego.

Like other law firms representing start-up technology companies, WSGR accepted equity in its clients as a form of payment in return for deferral of fees, and also passed on stakes in its investment fund to associates and staff members as a means of retaining employees.[38]

In 1994, WSGR represented Netscape Communications in its IPO, in addition to representing several other companies that, like Netscape, were tied to the start of the Internet Age, including Infoseek, USWeb/CKS, and Inktomi. WSGR also began to lead the nation in the number of issuer IPO transactions, completing 37 IPOs in 1995 and 44 IPOs in 1997.

In 1999, when VA Linux went public, the firm reaped $24.5 million as the value of the 100,000 shares that the firm held ballooned in value. Other IPOs that enriched the firm because of its equity stake were those of Ask Jeeves, Google, and online grocer Webvan. With the downturn in the dotcom economy, however, WSGR had to make a number of adjustments; 100 support staff and 60 associates were laid off—about 10% of its attorneys. Good times returned in 2004 when the firm advised Google on its $2.7 billion IPO.

In 2005, WSGR launched an office in China and boosted its New York office. In 2006 the firm relocated its Northern Virginia lawyers to Washington, D.C., to be closer to government regulators.

In 2016, WSGR represented long-time client LinkedIn in their $26.2 billion acquisition by Microsoft, which represented Microsoft's largest ever acquisition.[39]

Notable people

In addition to numerous professors and partners, both at Wilson Sonsini and other firms, some of the more notable current and former Wilson Sonsini attorneys include:

References

  1. ↑ Rivlin, Gary (2006-07-30). "A Counselor Pulled From the Shadows". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-12-05.
  2. ↑ "Vault - About Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati". Vault.com. Vault, Inc. 2016.
  3. ↑ Ryan, Greg (Jan 13, 2016). "Life sciences law powerhouse Wilson Sonsini to open office in Boston". Boston Business Journal.
  4. ↑ "Juniper Networks Prices $500 Million Offering of Senior Notes". February 24, 2016.
  5. ↑ "District Court Dismisses Lawsuit over Royalty Rates Against Muzak". March 7, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Amazon Web Services Announces New Renewable Energy Project in Virginia". June 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Renew Financial Raises $70 Million in Growth Capital". February 11, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Actus Medical Completes $75 Million Series C Financing Round". March 22, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Shanda Games Limited Completes $1.9 Billion Going-Private Transaction". November 19, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Microchip Technology to Acquire Atmel" (PDF). Jan 19, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Industry Practices - Software". WSGR - Practices and Industries.
  12. ↑ "Amazon Web Services Announces New Renewable Energy Project in Virginia". June 10, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Autodesk Prices $750 Million Note Offering". June 2, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Expedia Obtains Significant Ninth Circuit Victory in Consumer Class Action". May 24, 2011.
  15. ↑ [WSGR Obtains First-of-Its-Kind Precedent on California's Automatic Renewal Law "WSGR Obtains First-of-Its-Kind Precedent on California's Automatic Renewal Law"] Check |url= value (help). February 9, 2016.
  16. ↑ "ITC Finds in Favor of Google in Patent Dispute". July 7, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Northern District of California Dismisses Shareholder Complaint Against Hewlett-Packard". May 6, 2013.
  18. ↑ "2014 Chambers USA Guide Recognizes WSGR Practices, Attorneys for Excellence". January 31, 2015.
  19. ↑ Ruiz, David (March 3, 2016). "Wilson Sonsini and Davis Polk work on Juniper Networks' $500 million note offer". The Recorder.
  20. ↑ Coe, Erin (June 10, 2015). [California Powerhouse: Wilson Sonsini "Law360.com - California Powerhouse: Wilson Sonsini"] Check |url= value (help). Portfolio Media, Inc.
  21. ↑ "Mylan Obtains Federal Circuit Victory in Celebrex Litigation". June 23, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Ninth Circuit Affirms Netflix Victory in Antitrust Class Action". February 27, 2015.
  23. ↑ Kamping-Carder, Leigh (June 15, 2010). "Wilson Sonsini Reps Tesla In $178M IPO". Portfolio Media, Inc.
  24. ↑ "Judge strikes claim on who can be declared a founder of Tesla Motors". Tesla Corporate Blog. April 20, 2010.
  25. ↑ "Twitter to Acquire Whetlab". June 17, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Salesforce.com to Acquire ExactTarget for $2.5 Billion". June 4, 2013.
  27. ↑ Ruiz, David (Jan 23, 2015). "Box IPO Seen as a Hopeful Harbinger". The Recorder. (subscription required (help)).
  28. ↑ "California Powerhouse: Wilson Sonsini" (PDF). Law360. Portfolio Media, Inc. June 10, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Invuity Announces Closing of Initial Public Offering". June 18, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Juno Therapeutics Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering". December 18, 2014.
  31. ↑ "Mesoblast Announces Closing of Initial Public Offering". November 19, 2015.
  32. ↑ "MINDBODY Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering". June 18, 2015.
  33. ↑ Naso, Chelsea (December 4, 2014). "Small-Biz Lender On Deck Eyes $1.19B Valuation In IPO". (subscription required (help)).
  34. ↑ "WSGR Publication - The Clean Tech Report" (PDF). January 31, 2008.
  35. ↑ "Square Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering". November 18, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Sunrun Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering". August 5, 2015.
  37. ↑ Phillips, Harry (April 14, 2015). "The Washington, DC antitrust bar" (PDF). GCR - USA. Global Competition Review.
  38. ↑ Perry Piscione, Deborah (2013). Secrets of Silicon Valley. United States: Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-1-137-27917-0.
  39. ↑ http://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-to-acquire-linkedin-in-deal-valued-at-26-2-billion-1465821523
  40. ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/magazine/article/Meet-the-Top-Ten-Lawyers-Here-are-the-Godfather-2618831.php
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