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For more than four decades, Fenwick & West has helped some of the world’s most recognized companies become, and remain, market leaders. From emerging enterprises to large public corporations, our clients are leaders in the technology, life sciences and cleantech sectors and are fundamentally changing the world through rapid innovation.

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Fenwick & West was founded in 1972 in the heart of Silicon Valley—before “Silicon Valley” existed—by four visionary lawyers who left a top-tier New York law firm to pursue their shared belief that technology would revolutionize the business world and to pioneer the legal work for those technological innovations. In order to be most effective, they decided they needed to move to a location close to primary research and technology development. These four attorneys opened their first office in downtown Palo Alto, and Fenwick became one of the first technology law firms in the world.

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From our founding in 1972, Fenwick has been committed to promoting diversity and inclusion both within our firm and throughout the legal profession. For almost four decades, the firm has actively promoted an open and inclusive work environment and committed significant resources towards improving our diversity efforts at every level.

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At Fenwick, we are proud of our commitment to the community and to our culture of making a difference in the lives of individuals and organizations in the communities where we live and work. We recognize that providing legal services is not only an essential part of our professional responsibility, but also an excellent opportunity for our attorneys to gain valuable practical experience, learn new areas of the law and contribute to the community.

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Year after year, Fenwick & West is honored for excellence in the legal profession. Many of our attorneys are recognized as leaders in their respective fields, and our Corporate, Tax, Litigation and Intellectual Property Practice Groups consistently receive top national and international rankings, including:

  • Nearly 15 percent of Fenwick partners named America's Leading Lawyers for Business by Chambers USA and Chambers Global
  • Selected as a "Go-To" law firm by in-house legal departments at Fortune 500 companies in Corporate Counsel magazine
  • Named to The National Law Journal's inaugural "Intellectual Property Hot List" for outstanding patent, copyright, trademark and IP litigation services

Read more about Fenwick's awards, honors and rankings

We take sustainability very seriously at Fenwick. Like many of our clients, we are adopting policies that reduce consumption and waste, and improve efficiency. By using technologies developed by a number of our cleantech clients, we are at the forefront of implementing sustainable policies and practices that minimize environmental impact. In fact, Fenwick has earned recognition in several areas as one of the top US law firms for implementing sustainable business practices.

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At Fenwick, we have a passion for excellence and innovation that mirrors our client base. Our firm is making revolutionary changes to the practice of law through substantial investments in proprietary technology tools and processes—allowing us to deliver best-in-class legal services more effectively.

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Mountain View Office
Silicon Valley Center
801 California Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
650.988.8500

San Francisco Office
555 California Street
12th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104
415.875.2300

Seattle Office
1191 Second Avenue
10th Floor
Seattle, WA 98101
206.389.4510

About Our Corporate Practice

The Corporate Group provides services to technology and life sciences companies at all stages of development, from early start-ups to mature, publicly traded corporations. Fenwick & West's superior depth of knowledge in the technology and business of our clients makes a measurable difference in the success of our clients.

We have been ranked by:

  • Dow Jones as the fourth most active U.S. law firm in helping IT clients raise venture capital
  • Ranked as one of the Top 10 most active issuer counsel in the U.S. PIPE market by PlacementTracker (2012)
  • Ranked by Bloomberg as one of the Top 15 Global Private Equity Advisors - for Q1 2012
  • Ranked as one of the top law firms nationally and in the Silicon Valley area for Venture Capital in the "Best Law Firms" guide released by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers (2011)
  • Honored by Global M&A Network with the "2011 North America M&A Deal of the Year" award for representation of Asthmatx in its $443.5M acquisition by Boston Scientific. Also honored with the "2011 U.S. M&A Deal of the Year" award for representation of Quidsi (which operates Diapers.com and Soap.com) in its $545M acquisition by Amazon.com
  • Ranked by AlwaysOn in their Top Dealmakers Survey as one of the top corporate law firms for the technology industry
  • Ranked as a First Tier U.S. law firm for Venture Capital Investment Funds by Chambers USA 2011
  • Ranked by Mergermarket as one of the top 3 M&A Advisors in North America—for the Technology, Media and Telecom industries— for First Half 2010
  • Ranked by Corporate Board Member as one of the top five corporate law firms in northern California for publicly-traded companies
  • Ranked by American Lawyer Media and Global Securities as one of the top IPO issuers’ counsel in the United States, with top 10 rankings in multiple years
  • Ranked by Bloomberg and Mergerstat as one of the top 25 private equity legal advisors—across all industries

Representing over 200 companies in M&A transactions with a combined value of more than $250 billion; top-tier investment banks in IPOs and follow-ons; and venture backed private companies, our practice offers:

  • Integrated deal teams tackling complex corporate, intellectual property, antitrust, tax and employee benefits issues
  • Expertise in complex and creative financing transactions including convertible debt, syndicated loan transactions, high-yield debt, PIPES and shelf takedown offerings
  • A robust Silicon Valley connection to top-tier venture capital firms and VC-backed start-up companies
  • Better understanding of key technology and business drivers in securities filings
  • Deeper due diligence in merger and acquisitions transactions to assess risks and facilitate post-deal integration
  • More focused due diligence in securities offerings and venture capital financings