2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER Fenwick

Known for its innovative work with technology and life sciences companies, Fenwick is home to nearly 500 attorneys in seven offices. The firm has grown beyond Silicon Valley to three other locations in California and has established a presence in Seattle and New York, a relatively new outfit in Washington, DC, and an international office in Shanghai.  

The Founding

In 1972, four attorneys left New York City for Palo Alto, California, because they recognized that the recently named Silicon Valley would become the tech epicenter of the world. This shared vision was the basis for their new law firm.

Only four years after its founding, Fenwick retained future tech icons Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as clients, eventually helping them incorporate Apple Computer—one of the world’s most valuable companies as determined by market cap. Fenwick has grown to become a leading law firm for preeminent tech and life sciences companies including Amazon, Cisco Systems, Coinbase, Databricks, Electronic Arts, Google, and Third Harmonics Bio.

Innovators in Tech and Life Sciences

Fenwick represents more than 3,000 startup companies, of which more than 200 are unicorns (companies valued at $1 billion or more), and more than 375 public companies are located in business and financial hubs around the world. In addition to serving the aforementioned technology and life science companies, Fenwick counsels clients in numerous established and nascent industries including autonomous transportation, blockchain, communications, consumer goods and retail, digital health, fintech, gaming, hardware, life sciences, semiconductors, and software.

One of the top five firms in Vault’s Emerging Companies & Venture Capital rankings, Fenwick continues to lead in the technology sector, handling a number of the largest venture capital financings, including those for Databricks, Outreach, GOAT Group, Faire, TripActions, Relativity Space, and Aurora Solar. For example, in 2021, Fenwick helped Coinbase with direct listing, making it the first major crypto company to go public.

Fenwick has remained one of Vault’s Best Law Firms for Intellectual Property for more than a decade. Its intellectual property group represents many of the world’s most cutting-edge companies, such as Day One Biopharmaceuticals, Epic Games, Intuit, Numenta, and Salesforce, in important prosecution and transactional matters. Fenwick’s litigation practice, also focusing on tech and life sciences, has achieved numerous victories for Amazon (including summary judgments, jury trial verdicts, and Federal Circuit wins); Ninth Circuit decisions for Fitbit and Intuit; and successes for Peloton Interactive, GoPro, Netflix, Loxo Oncology, and Yuga Labs.

The firm’s M&A practice has been consistently recognized as one of the best in the nation. Recently, the firm advised high-profile companies such as Chinook Therapeutics, Cisco, Dice Therapeutics, Figma, and Twilio in notable domestic and international M&A transactions. Fenwick’s tax group has also been intimately involved in the strategy of multinational brands such as Dover Corp., Meta, and Limited Brands and in supporting the steady stream of corporate transactions run by the firm over the past year.

Independent but Not Alone

Fenwick’s free market system enables associates to drive their own careers by seeking out the work that most interests them within their practice group and across multiple offices. The firm prides itself on encouraging associates to play an active role in establishing their careers and shaping their own work experiences. Matters are staffed across offices, allowing associates to work with teams firmwide.

This autonomy is not without support, as each associate has a dedicated practice management professional who serves as a trusted advisor in helping them find the right assignments and balance their workload to achieve their career goals.

• Incorporated Apple Computer in 1976 and pioneered the first shrink-wrap license agreement that same year.
• Successfully defended Amazon’s 1-Click® patent (2002), a mission critical victory in the early years of the online retailer.
• Handled many of the largest and most significant M&A transactions in the history of the technology industry, including Symantec's $13 billion acquisition of VERITAS, which created the fourth-largest software firm in the world (2005).
• Guided Facebook in its seminal IPO (2012) and its record-setting $1 billion acquisition of Instagram (2012); advised WhatsApp on its $19 billion sale to Facebook (2014).
• Represented Coinbase in a first-of-its-kind public listing on Nasdaq, valued at opening trade at $99 billion (2021).

• Life Sciences Group of the Year, 2023—Law360
• ‘Leading Edge Law Firm’ among the ‘Best of the Best’ in generative AI, 2024—BTI Consulting Group
• Thomas L. Sager Award for DEI, 2023— Minority Corporate Counsel Association
• Best Place to Work in the Bay Area, 2023—Silicon Valley Business Journal and San Francisco Business Times
• Top 100 Best Places to Work in New York, 2023—Crain’s New York