The White Sandal Elite: The Go-To Law Firms of Silicon Valley

Which firms are the best in Silicon Valley?


One of the big takeaways from the just released 2016 Amlaw 100 numbers is that, although white-shoe New York firms have recently struggled for growth, their Silicon Valley peers are ascendant, thanks to a “frothy” tech market and the resultant IPO and M&A work. Of course, the Silicon Valley legal market extends well beyond the cadre of elite Biglaw players such as Wilson Sonsini, Cooley, and Fenwick to include a complex ecosystem of specialist boutiques and smaller firms with deep local roots and thriving practices in areas ranging from estate planning to restructuring to white collar defense.

Our friends at Lake Whillans Litigation Finance recently opened a new Palo Alto office to better serve its Silicon Valley-based clients, including entrepreneurs and venture capital firms. To celebrate this new outpost, Lake Whillans is sponsoring this handy primer to the “white sandal” firms of Silicon Valley. Among them, these firms not only can handle every transactional need, but also do anything from taxes to setting up HR review processes.

Engaging these firms can help the tech startups, unicorns, and venture capitalists of the new economy avoid or contain problems down the road. Should legal issues arise, Lake Whillans can step in and help resolve them.

1. Best Firm for Incorporating Your Two-Person Company Because Somebody Told You There Were Tax Benefits: Fortis General Counsel, LLP

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This tiny boutique firm boasts a flexible business model and has found success in providing the legal services that are typically performed in-house, making them the ideal firm for a new company that lacks its own general counsel. The firm’s three lawyers are emerging company specialists who specialize in advising early-stage startups, particularly in the technology sector. Known throughout Silicon Valley for their cost-effective representation of tech companies in all aspects of business law, they are your go-to resource when your company is just getting off the ground.

2. Best Firm For Patenting Your Algorithm or Application: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC

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Founded in Silicon Valley, this global firm now boasts 15 offices worldwide and has become a major player in a wide range of practice areas, from intellectual property to capital markets. With a special practice area devoted to patents and innovation, the firm is on the cutting edge of patent protection and litigation. Their attorneys are well positioned to advise new and emerging companies on the most recent developments in intellectual property law, particularly in the technology and life sciences sectors. If you think you’ve come up with next big thing, these are the people you want to talk to.

3. Best Firm For Trademarking The Logo You Think Is So Cool: Fenwick & West LLP

“The cool kids in Silicon Valley,” Fenwick openly prides itself on its geek culture, touting its involvement in headline-grabbing technology cases such as the Facebook IPO. Consistently ranked one of the best intellectual property firms on the West Coast, the firm’s attorneys are well versed in the ins and outs of trademark law. Always on the forefront of emerging technology issues, the firm has a proven track record in cases involving trademark protection and infringement. Your work is in good hands with this geek squad.

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4. Best Firm For Suing The Bigger Company That Stole Your Intellectual Property: Taylor & Company Law Offices, LLP

This intimate boutique firm has a reputation for providing superior business litigation services to a diverse clientele, including start-ups, software developers, and major corporations. Their intellectual property group specializes in prosecuting and defending copyright, trademark, and patent infringement cases, as well as dealing with issues of trade secret misappropriation. Spanning a wide variety of industries, the firm’s client base is made up of individuals and companies on the forefront of today’s emerging innovations, from hardware and software to biotechnology and medical devices. Your ideas are yours, and these guys will help you protect them.

5. Best Firm For When You Actually Find Yourself In A Courtroom: Bergeson LLP

This close-knit litigation boutique combines deep Silicon Valley roots with a reputation for being a key player in high-stakes lawsuits across a wide range of substantive areas, from intellectual property to securities fraud. Attorneys in the business litigation practice are skilled at handling every aspect of complex business disputes. The firm’s small size belies its depth of trial experience, particularly in the Northern District of California and the Santa Clara District Court. Firm founder Dan Bergeson is renowned throughout Silicon Valley for both his expertise and cost-effectiveness in all aspects of business litigation. If you need to resort to litigation, this firm will have your back.

6. Best Firm For Keeping That Glass Ceiling Off: Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Renowned as an innovator in the field of labor and employment law, this international firm was one of the first to devote an exclusive  practice area to the field. With over 100 labor and employment attorneys in California alone, the firm offers vast expertise, including a team devoted to all aspects of pay equity-related issues. With demands for pay equality reaching a crescendo nationwide, a growing company must recognize the crucial importance of ensuring equitable pay for their employees, not merely to avoid legal risk, but to maintain competitive advantage. Seyfarth’s Pay Equity Group has over 20 years experience counseling employers on best practices to guide fair pay practices and risk mitigation, including compliance with California’s especially stringent Fair Pay Act.

7. Best Firm For Helping You Get Office Space: Seubert French Frimel & Warner LLP

Founded in the heart of Silicon Valley, this 4-lawyer boutique firm knows the ins and outs of all things real estate law. Experienced in representing both sides of real estate transactions, the firm has been a major player in some of the area’s most high-profile real estate deals. Two of the firm’s 4 name partners devote their practices to transactional and commercial real estate matters, making them the obvious choice for landlords, tenants, investors, and developers alike. When you want personalized service, this firm will deliver.

8. Best Firm To Keep You Out Of California State Prison: Cris Arguedas of Arguedas, Cassman & Headley

Consistently recognized as one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the country, Cris Arguedas has lent her trial skills to some of the most high-profile cases of the last 20 years. Her courtroom skills are so highly regarded that the Dream Team hired her to conduct a mock cross-examination of O.J. Simpson. While she can’t say how the test run went, we all know that O.J. didn’t testify at his trial. Arguedas is known as the lawyer that lawyers would call if they were arrested. From sensational murder trials to complex white-collar cases, Arguedas is the defense lawyer you need.

9. Best Firm To Win The Trial Over Your Intellectual Property: Keker & Van Nest LLP

When it comes to protecting intellectual property and technology, this is the law firm that the world’s top innovators turn to for help. No IP dispute is too complex or novel for the firm’s lawyers, be it a question of copyright issues for a tech start-up or the patent rights for semiconductors. Name partner John Keker is widely regarded by his peers as the best trial lawyer in Silicon Valley, if not the country, thanks to four decades of success in high-profile litigation matters from some of the world’s largest corporations. When your intellectual property is on the line, this is the firm you call.

10. Best Firm For When You Need Estate Planning After Your IPO: Sowards Law Firm

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Dedicated entirely to business law and estate planning, this boutique firm with 3 offices in Silicon Valley offers expertise in wills, trusts, and estate planning, as well as asset protection. From probate to guardianship to business succession, this firm handles it all. Serving clients that range from individuals to large corporations, the firm’s lawyers are well equipped to deal with any estate planning issues that may arise. If you’re planning for your future, they’ve got you covered.

11. Best Firm To Advise Minority Shareholders: Silicon Valley Law Group

With roots in Silicon Valley, this firm understands the unique needs and culture of the area. Well versed in the reorganizations and break-ups that happen so often in pioneering tech companies, the firm routinely handles the drafting of employment and executive compensation agreements, as well as restructurings, mergers, and acquisitions. The firm’s lawyers frequently come to the aid of minority shareholders who feel they’re being treated unfairly or are wrongfully at risk of losing control of their companies.

12. Best Firm To Independently Advise The Board of Directors: Kaye Scholer LLP

The Silicon Valley office of this international law firm focuses on serving clients in the technology and life sciences sectors in all aspects of business law, from start-up formation to venture capital matters. Special Counsel Diane Holt Frankle regularly serves as an advisor to boards of directors on questions of fiduciary duties, internal investigations, crisis management, and corporate governance and disclosure. Capitalizing on the firm’s deep understanding of corporate law, Frankle and the firm’s other lawyers are also adept at representing companies in private and public offerings.

13. Best Firm To Help You Making Sure You Have Capital To Keep the Lights On Until Daybreak: King & Spalding

Renowned for their success in the corporate sector, this major international law firm has an entire practice group dedicated to emerging growth companies. With several lawyers in the Silicon Valley office, the group concentrates on helping emerging companies to get started, and then helping them grow when the time comes. Well versed in intricacies of planning and raising business capital, they are the firm to go to when your business is struggling to stay afloat or looking to expand.

14. Best Firm For Planning (Or Avoiding) The Re-Start-Up: Duane Morris

For more than a century, this major international law firm has provided a vast range of legal services to clients around the world, from mergers and acquisitions to white collar criminal defense. The firm opened a Silicon Valley office in 2013 to better serve its technology sector clients. One of the office’s specialties is business reorganization and financial restructuring, drawing on the firm’s extensive bankruptcy experience to work with troubled companies to determine the best course of action and derive the maximum possible corporate value.

15. Best Firm For To Keep You Out Of E-Discovery Hell: Singer/Bea LLP

The demands of e-discovery associated with complex litigation is a potential black hole for corporate legal departments’ resources. The cutting-edge boutique Bea/Singer has you covered. This nimble and ruthlessly efficient firm of business litigation and IP ninjas has managed massive doc review and collection projects for an array of Fortune 500 companies and can leverage experience with all major e-discovery vendors. Singer/Bea clients benefit from bespoke e-discovery protocols from the get-go in order to control costs and distill the crucial evidence that will carry the day at trial.

16. Best Firm For When You Are Ready To Get Into That Asian Market: Greenberg Traurig

For Silicon Valley companies looking to expand into Asia, Greenberg Traurig is the firm to know. With offices all over the world, including Seoul and Shanghai, the firm assists clients in nearly every area of law and in nearly every corner of the globe. In addition to advising emerging growth companies on complex corporate matters, the firm’s Silicon Valley office has developed a cutting edge international transactional practice that specifically focuses on the top Asian markets, including China, Taiwan, and Japan.

17. Best Firm For Designing Your Employee Stock Option Plan: Gunderson Dettmer

Compensation, incentive and equity plans are crucial drivers of growth for emerging companies. Gunderson’s Executive Compensation practice group develops and refines the cutting-edge plans that align with the goals of companies as they strive toward their IPO or M&A event. Gunderson offers a blend of tax, securities and regulatory know-how with an up-to-the-minute grasp of market trends and the folkways of Silicon Valley culture

18. Best Firm For One-Horned Horsey Creatures: Cooley LLP

When it comes to making that sweet, sweet VC money fall like rain, nobody is killing larger than Cooley. The firm ranks as the number one most active firm for both early- and late-stage venture capital financings for Q1 2016, building on its status as the most active firm for VC-backed exits for all of 2015. Cooley boasts a client base of more than 5,000 emerging companies, including more than one third of The Wall Street Journal’s “Billion Dollar Startup Club.” Cooley’s commitment to innovation is exemplified by its Cooley GO program, a free resource designed to help startups blow up.

19. Best Firm For Lobbying Congress In Your Favor: WilmerHale

Consistently recognized as one of the top lobbying shops in the country, the lawyers at WilmerHale know their way around Capitol Hill. Combined with its elite intellectual property practice, this makes the firm the ideal choice for handling the unique needs of Silicon Valley companies. For the past 10 years, the firm’s Palo Alto office has been advising companies at all levels, from venture capital start-ups to Fortune 50 corporations. When you need to see results in Washington, this is the firm you call.

20. Best Jack-of-All-Trades Firm For High Growth Companies: Montgomery & Hansen

A firm of choice for entrepreneurs, emerging growth companies, and venture capitalists, Montgomery & Hansen has built a highly successful practice helping high-growth companies with all facets of business development, from founders agreements and executive compensation to seed and venture financings. M&H is the go-to firm for when your tiny pipedream of a company grows into a legitimate corporate enterprise. The firm’s Silicon Valley office is experienced at providing the industry-specific knowledge that emerging technology companies need to succeed.