Fenwick & West is a national law firm that provides comprehensive legal services to technology and life sciences clients of national and international prominence. We have approximately 300 attorneys, with offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle and Boise.

Fenwick & West is committed to providing innovative, cost-effective and practical legal services that focus on global technology industries and issues. We differentiate ourselves by having a deeper understanding of our clients' technologies, industry environments and business needs than is typically expected of lawyers.

 

SERVICES

 

Fenwick & West is a full service, national law firm with a primary focus on technology and life sciences clients ranging from start-ups to established companies of national and international prominence. Our litigation and tax groups service clients from a wide range of additional industries. They have approximately 300 attorneys providing services from the Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle and Boise offices.

They are committed to providing innovative, cost-effective and practical legal services and solutions that focus on global technology industries and issues. Fenwick & West believes that technology will continue to drive our national and global economies and we look forward to partnering with our clients to create the products and services that will help build great companies. We differentiate ourselves by having a deeper understanding of our clients' technologies, industry environment and business needs than is typically expected of lawyers.

They are a full service firm with practice groups covering:

 

Corporate

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.

Representing over 200 companies in M&A transactions with a combined value of more than $200 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

Their core areas of focus include:

-Corporate Finance and Securities Law	-Start-ups and Venture Capital
-Mergers and Acquisitions	-Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits

 

Intellectual Property

Their  Intellectual Property Practice Group offers integrated advice on all aspects of the protection and exploitation of intellectual property. Ranked consistently as one of the top five West Coast firms in both intellectual property litigation and protection over at least the past 10 years by Euromoney’s Managing Intellectual Property publication, our lawyers are pioneers of legal innovation. We advise clients concerning novel issues under the Digital Millennium Copyright (DMCA), domestic and international privacy issues, software and business method patents, evaluating and implementing new business models around open source software, crafting novel technology distribution arrangements and implementing intellectual property audits.

Our core areas of focus include:

-Antitrust and Unfair Competition	-Trademark Litigation
-Technology Transactions	-Patent
-Copyright	-Trade Secret
-Trademark	-Patent Litigation
-Copyright Litigation	-Trade Secret Litigation

 

 

Litigation

Their technology-based clients — including leaders in the Internet, computer hardware and software, digital media and entertainment, semiconductor, biotechnology and medical device industries — routinely call upon us to handle their most critical disputes. To meet the needs of these clients, we invest heavily to insure we understand the businesses and technologies behind their products, services and inventions.

-80+ litigation attorneys, supported by dedicated, in-house teams of paralegals, staff scientists, document review specialists and IT

-National practice in state and federal venues across the U.S.

-Track record of obtaining successful outcomes on the largest and most complex "bet the company" cases as well as more typical commercial disputes

-Sophisticated in-house technical staff and software tools enable us to handle client documents and data in electronic form, to maximize the use of computerized search, storage and sorting tools, and to minimize expense

-Comprehensive understanding of our clients’ technologies and industries leads to litigation solutions that are also part of a business strategy

Our core areas of focus include:

-Antitrust and Unfair Competition	-Trade Secret Litigation
-Securities Litigation	-Employment Practices
-Commercial Litigation	-Trademark Litigation
-Tax Litigation	-Patent Litigation
-Copyright Litigation

 

 

Tax

Fenwick & West has achieved a reputation as having one of the nation's leading domestic and international tax practices. The tax group's exciting and sophisticated practice stems from its client base. Our tax clients represent every geographic area of the United States, as well as a number of foreign countries, and have included over 100 Fortune 500 companies.

-20 tax attorneys with a broad range of corporate, partnership, and international tax experience: represented well over 40 Fortune 100 companies in major federal tax matters

-Recognized by International Tax Review (2010) as one of the world’s leading tax planning practices, one of only two law firms in the entire U.S. to earn First Tier status

-Also recognized by International Tax Review (2010) as one of the world’s leading tax transactional practices, one of only five law firms in the entire U.S. to earn First Tier status

-Awarded First Tier status by World Tax Review  every year, most recently in World Tax 2010

-Awarded "Corporate Tax Law Firm of the Year" for North America by ACQ Global Awards (2009)

-International Tax Review (2009) named Fenwick & West as "Tax Firm of the Year for the San Francisco Area" 3 out of the last 4 years.  Also awarded "U.S. Tax Litigation Firm of the Year" 2 out of the last 4 years

-Extensive experience in tax accounting, M&A and joint venture planning

-Represented corporate clients in nearly 70 federal tax court cases and 35 state tax cases

-Significant APA experience and contacts: IRS APA program directors, and other APA personnel, have sought employment with Fenwick & West on leaving the APA program

-Extensive transfer pricing and witness-preparation work with many of the country's leading transfer pricing economists

-Recently won landmark Ninth Circuit and Tax Court cases for Xilinx relating to cost-sharing

Related services include Tax Litigation and Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits.

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL

 

Fenwick & West handles significant litigation, corporate, intellectual property and tax matters for clients throughout Asia and Europe. The firm has close working relationships with leading law firms in jurisdictions where clients are active including: Japan, China, India, Taiwan and the various countries of the European Union. We are able to make selections among multiple firms in each jurisdiction to suit each client's particular business and legal needs. This allows us to complete filings directly via the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

The firm's IP Group is recognized as a leader in international IP portfolio management; for example, the Trademark Group manages international registration and policing for some of the largest technology trademark portfolios in the world, currently prosecuting over 12,500 applications and registrations in over 160 jurisdictions worldwide.

The firm routinely handles corporate transactions, venture capital financing, licensing transactions and litigation in foreign jurisdictions for its U.S. clients, and represents a growing number of foreign technology companies throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East on U.S.-related transactions. The firm has particular expertise in the IP issues related to outsourcing.

Our Tax Group is continually recognized as one of the top tax practices in the United States, particularly in the areas of cross-border transactions and transfer pricing.

Fenwick is also Safe Harbor compliant, committed to handling all data subject to the European Union Directive on Data Protection and/or  the Federal Data Protection and Information Commission of Switzerland in accordance with the Safe Harbor Principles of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

 

 

 

INDUSTRIES

 

Fenwick & West's clients cover the entire technology spectrum. A significant number of our lawyers have technical degrees, including advanced degrees, in engineering, biotechnology, computer science, mathematics, physics and other technical disciplines. Many of our attorneys also have industry experience as programmers, engineers and researchers. Because we understand the technology of our clients, we can render some of the most sophisticated legal advice anywhere in the world with respect to novel legal problems.

Our clients focus on a wide range of technologies, including:

-Cleantech	-Internet
-Communications	-Life Sciences
-Computer Hardware	-Semiconductors
-Entertainment	-Software