Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP has just announced its plan to launch a Silicon Valley office. This office will make the firm’s eleventh office and the eighth one in California. Partner Marc A. Sockol, who will manage this Palo Alto office, joins the firm’s Intellectual Property practice group. Sockol was prevoiusly a partner at Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP.
Source: www.bizjournals.com
Palo Alto is in the midst of celebrating Earth Month, a program beginning March 23, which entails a new weekly focus on sustainable living and a speaker series beginning Thursday. The Earth Month organizers recently acknowledged the efforts of local businesses for their endeavors to make environmentally-friendly changes. One such business was the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Assistant General Counsel Mark Parnes explained that the firm began its environmental efforts about 10 years ago. Wison Sonsini has recently beagn purchasing recycled materials, nad have launched a ride-sharing program.
Source: http://www.paloaltodailynews.com
Jones Day remains as one of the world’s largest law firms by a variety of tactics. One such tactic, is ensuring the possibility of promotions for its current members, which in turn aids in attracting those on the outside, specifically in its five California offices. In 2004, the San Diego office had one lawyer. Today it has more than 20. Along with various other lateral moves, Jones Day has had 9 associates climb the ladder to partner throughout the California offices. The California offices began 25 years ago, now with more than 250 lawyers cumulatively among the five offices, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Irvine and San Diego.
Source: blackenterprise.com
California law firm Fenwick & West LLP has opened an office in Seattle. Corporate attorneys Stephen M. Graham, Roger M. Tolbert and Alan C. Smith will head the office, which will focus on life sciences. Representatives of the firm said that they had been eying the Seattle market for some time, adding that it is attractive because of its similarities to both the Bay Area and Silicon Valley.
Source: sev.prnewswire.com
IP and patent litigation expert, William Bohler, has joined WilmerHale in Silicon Valley. Bohler was previously employed with Townsend and Townsend and Crew, and his practice focuses on complex patent litigation and trials in federal district courts, U.S. International Trade Commission, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has a degree in electrical engineering and has worked with such clients as Hynix Semiconductor, Visa, and Kumho. WilmerHale has 1,100 attorneys worldwide.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal is rapidly adding partners (20 this year) and offices (three this year), yet its total headcount is growing slowly. The total number of attorneys has only grown by five, reaching 650, because some lawyers have left as the firm sharpens its strategic focus. The firm’s new offices are located in Dallas, Charlotte, and Menlo Park. Sonnenschein aims to expand its litigation, corporate, and real estate groups, and hopes to grow to 1,000 attorneys by 2009. Along the way the firm has lost lawyers due to its increasing emphasis on profitability and productivity standards.
Source: www.law.com
DLA Piper has recruited two corporate and securities partners from Greenberg Traurig to join its Silicon Valley office. Both attorneys have strong business relationships with Vietnam and China. Khoa Do was a partner and the chair of GT’s Silicon Valley corporate and securities practice. Do’s practice focuses on advising technology companies on corporate formation and governance, venture capital financings, public offerings, M&A and public company reporting. Michael Reagan works in venture capital and M&A; he is fluent in Lao and Thai.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
The West Coast has seen several lateral moves recently. Four intellectual property associates from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Silicon Valley office have joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Richard Welsh has joined Greenberg Traurig as a litigation partner in L.A. from Kirkland & Ellis. McKenna Long & Aldridge welcomed Penny Cobey in L.A.; she joins as an of counsel in the real estate and finance practice.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
David Furbush left O’Melveny & Myers for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Furbush, a securities litigation specialist, will join Pillsbury’s Silicon Valley office where he will co-lead the firm’s securities litigation team. His work will focus on securities litigation defense in shareholder class actions and investigations initiated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Source: www.law.com
Goodwin Procter has opened a Palo Alto office, its fifth office in California to open over the past 14 months. The Boston-based firm recruited six Bay Area attorneys from Townsend & Townsend & Crew LLP, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and Latham & Watkins LLP for the new office. The firm has offices in L.A., San Francisco, and San Diego, and has over 750 attorneys nationwide.
Source: www.bizjournals.com
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has increased first-year associate salaries in California to $160,000. The Silicon Valley firm is not, however, applying that rate to its Seattle or Salt Lake City offices. Additionally, the associates receiving the raise will not benefit from the quarterly bonus program. Other firms that already made the raise include Orrick; O’Melveny; MoFo; Latham and Gibson; Paul, Hastings; Winston & Strawn; Akin Gump; and Cooley Godward Kronish.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
