Opened in 2005, WilmerHale’s Palo Alto office has grown to more than 65 attorneys in a wide range of practice areas, including litigation, corporate, securities, intellectual property, technology licensing and fund formation.
The clients serviced by our office range from Fortune 50 corporations to venture-backed start-up companies. Our work for these clients focuses on areas that match the requirements of Silicon Valley companies with the firm’s core strengths: corporate finance and M&A; intellectual property litigation, counseling and transactions; patent prosecution; securities enforcement and litigation; cross-border transactions and litigation; and government investigations and white collar criminal litigation.
Our corporate group regularly represents venture capital firms in fund formations and complex financings, and serves as general counsel to numerous emerging growth companies in several significant market segments, including clean tech and life sciences. Members of our corporate group also advise companies on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions.
The firm’s intellectual property practice is regarded among the elite practices internationally and our Palo Alto office is deeply integrated into that practice. Our experience includes high profile patent litigation cases throughout the country; international arbitrations involving technology issues, copyright, Lanham Act and trade secret disputes; intellectual property counseling; patent prosecution; and technology transactions. Consistently ranked among the best IP litigation practices in the United States by industry analysts such as Chambers and the American Lawyer, we strive to fully understand our clients’ goals in order to provide a comprehensive global strategy that maximizes and protects the value of intellectual property assets.
The Palo Alto office also offers deep expertise in securities litigation and enforcement, and independent Board and other internal investigations, for which WilmerHale "remains super—a top firm for clients" and is the “place to go for high-profile matters that cover large potential liabilities” (Chambers USA 2012). We have brought our experience and pragmatism to our defense of issuers, investment advisers and broker-dealers in hundreds of SEC, FINRA and regulatory actions, and on a wide array of class and shareholder litigation, including on behalf of emerging growth technology clients, nearly every major investment bank, and the directors of Enron, Qwest, WorldCom and UnitedHealth.