Palo Alto
WilmerHale's Palo Alto office opened in 2005 and has quickly developed a leading practice that is founded on the firm’s core strengths and principles. Like many successful Silicon Valley start-up stories, the office was originally anchored by two attorneys and, over the past two years, has grown to nearly 30 highly qualified and versatile attorneys representing clients in the US, Asia and Europe.
The clients serviced by our office run the gamut from Fortune 500 corporations to start-ups. Our work for them focuses on areas that match the needs of Silicon Valley clients with the firm’s core strengths: corporate finance and M&A; intellectual property litigation, counseling and transactions; securities enforcement and litigation; cross-border transactions and litigation; and government investigations and white collar criminal litigation.
Our corporate attorneys regularly represent venture capital firms in fund formations and complex financings, and also serve as general counsel to various emerging companies, including clean tech and life sciences start-ups. They are also active in mergers and acquisitions and have significant experience with cross-border transactions, making us a natural fit for many multinational corporations operating in global markets. The corporate attorneys are recognized for the breadth and depth of their experience by various industry publications and rankings, and are frequently speakers on timely topics of law and business.
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 practice 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 US by industry analysts such as Chambers and The American Lawyer, we strive to understand fully 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 extends to the West Coast the firm’s deep expertise in securities enforcement, securities litigation and government investigations—which has included internal investigations on behalf of the directors of Enron, Qwest and WorldCom—bringing to West Coast clients an appreciation for both government enforcement concerns and the issues of concern to these clients.
The office’s collegial environment enables us to represent our clients efficiently with the utmost focus on quality and personalized attention. In addition to the foregoing practices, we also handle antitrust and competition litigation and counseling, as well as complex commercial matters—often working in tandem with lawyers from related practice areas in order to provide the exemplary service for which WilmerHale is known. Coupled with our seamless coordination with other practices and attorneys in WilmerHale offices across the globe, we are uniquely poised to offer our clients the services of an international firm.
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