2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE PREMIUM SPONSOR Orrick

Orrick is a global firm of more than 1,100 attorneys that is fiercely committed to teamwork and innovation. The firm has offices across the globe, including in California, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.

It All Began with a Breakup

In the late 1800s, W.S. Goodfellow and his partners, John J. Jarboe and Ralph C. Harrison, walked away from their San Francisco firm, Jarboe, Harrison & Goodfellow. Goodfellow then teamed up with Charles Eells to form Goodfellow & Eells. The firm helped organize the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company after San Francisco’s catastrophic earthquake and fire in 1906 and worked on water rights matters. In 1910, William H. Orrick joined the firm, and over the years, George Herrington and Eric Sutcliffe—who became managing partner in 1947—jumped aboard too. One of the firm’s earliest successes was its involvement in the financing of the Golden Gate Bridge—a matter that set the firm’s stage for big things to come.

Focused on Four

Today, Orrick focuses on serving clients in four sectors: technology and innovation, life sciences and healthtech, energy and infrastructure, and finance. Its practice spans transactional, regulatory, and litigation work. The firm has counseled more than 5,000 venture-backed companies, including Pinterest, Stripe, and SoFi, guiding startups through successful initial public offerings or acquisitions. The team is on the cutting edge of areas such as AI, fintech, and blockchain.

The firm is particularly well-known for its energy work, holding the No. 3 spot in Vault’s Clean Tech/Renewable Energy rankings. The firm represents the leading players in solar and wind, and it advises clients globally on innovative energy sources such as green hydrogen and biofuels and on carbon capture and other emerging energy technologies. In the past several years, the firm has worked on more than 150 bids for new renewables projects.

Orrick also boasts one of the strongest intellectual property (IP) teams in the country, representing many of the most successful global tech brands in headline-making cases. The firm’s IP lawyers handle copyright, inter partes review, IP counseling, patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and even the legal implications of 3D printing. The firm also offers some of the most active cyber, privacy, and data innovation practices. 

The firm represents more than 700 fintech clients. It is a market leader in securitization and public finance and has strong teams in restructuring and real estate. Orrick also defends banks and funds in complex litigation.

Innovation Time

Innovation is just another part of life at Orrick. Associates can spend up to 100 billable hours on innovation-related projects to help the firm and its clients. Associates have engaged in innovation “sprints,” which incorporate principles of design thinking to challenge assumptions and brainstorm new solutions. Other associates have created tools to enhance the efficiency of delivering legal services, apps to target client needs, and other projects. It’s unsurprising that Financial Times has regularly ranked Orrick among the top 10 most innovative law firms in North America.

• Orrick helped AI companies and investors raise $65 billion in 2025 and guided three AI companies to valuations over $10 billion, including advising Anthropic on its $30 billion Series G financing as well as all prior fundraising rounds. The firm is litigating high-stakes cases raising existential questions about the use of AI for Microsoft, Workday, Cohere, and others.
• Orrick advised on Intersect’s $4.75 billion sale to Alphabet and on nuclear pioneer Oklo’s landmark partnership with Meta to develop an advanced nuclear technology campus.
• The firm’s appellate team handled three appeals of over $1 billion in the span of 10 weeks for Johnson & Johnson, Pegasystems, and Cox. Two Orrick associates argued en banc before the Ninth Circuit, and the firm secured successive dismissals for PayPal in the ongoing Honey online shopping browser extension litigation.
• Orrick advised on the first securities issuances on the permissioned private blockchain of a major bank and the first crypto-backed municipal bond issuance.

• Top 10 Most Innovative Law Firm in North America for 10 consecutive years, 2025—Financial Times
• Top 10 on the A-List for nine years in a row, 2025—The American Lawyer
• No. 6 for breadth of pro bono commitment, 2025—The American Lawyer
• Gold-Tier Top Firm, 2025—Yale Law Women