As with Bay Area corporate practice, technology drives Bay Area litigation. Demand is high for patent and intellectual property litigators, and demand is extremely high for associates with technical degrees (particularly in electrical engineering, computer science or physics).
There are also opportunities, however, for litigation associates with strong academic credentials and an interest in areas other than patent litigation. Commercial, products liability, antitrust and white collar litigation has been active; securities litigation, by contrast, has been slow and a number of firms have laid off securities litigation associates in the last few years.
Top Patent/IP Litigation Practices
- Alston & Bird SV
- Arnold & Porter SF
- Bingham McCutchen SF
- Cooley SF/SV
- Covington & Burling SF
- Davis Polk & Wardwell SV
- Dechert SV
- DLA Piper SF/SV
- Farella Braun & Martel SF
- Fish & Richardson SV
- Gibson Dunn SF/SV
- Goodwin Procter SF
- Jones Day SF
- Keker & Van Nest
- Latham SF/SF
- McDermott Will & Emery SV
- Morgan Lewis & Bockius SF
- Morrison & Foerster SF/SV
- O’Melveny SF
- Orrick SV
- Paul Hastings SV
- Perkins Coie
- Simpson Thacher SV
- Skadden SV
- Weil Gotshal SV
- WilmerHale SV
- Wilson Sonsini SV
Top General Litigation Firms
- Arnold & Porter SF
- Bingham McCutchen SF/SV
- Boies Schiller Oakland
- Cooley SF/SV
- Covington SF/SV
- Farella Braun & Martel SF
- Gibson Dunn SF/SV
- Keker & Van Nest SF
- Mayer Brown SV
- Morgan Lewis SF
- Morrison & Foerster SF
- Nixon Peabody SF
- O’Melveny SF
- Orrick SF
- Paul Hastings SF
- Pillsbury Winthrop SF
- Sheppard Mullin SF
- Sidley SF
- Skadden SV
- Wilson Sonsini SV
Top Real Estate Practices
- Allen Matkins
- Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass SF
- Cox Castle SF
- Dechert SF
- DLA Piper SF
- Gibson Dunn SF
- Jones Day SF
- Manatt Phelps & Phillips SF
- Morrison & Foerster SF
- Paul Hastings SF
- Pillsbury Winthrop SF
- Seyfarth Shaw SF
- Sheppard Mullin SF
Top Employment Practices
- Arnold & Porter SF
- Cooley SV
- Greenberg Traurig SF
- Jones Day SF
- Littler Mendelson SF
- Morgan Lewis SF
- Nixon Peabody SV
- O’Melveny SF
- Ogletree Deakins SF
- Orrick SF/SV
- Pillsbury Winthrop SF
- Seyfarth Shaw SF
- Sheppard Mullin SF
Top Patent Prosecution Practices
- Blakeley Sokoloff SV
- Fish & Richardson SV
- Finnegan Henderson SV
- Knobbe Martens SV
- Morgan Lewis SV
- Morrison & Foerster SV
- Schwegman Lundberg SV
Top Mid-Sized San Francisco-Based Firms (Regardless Of Practice Area)
- Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass
- Farella Braun & Martell
- Keker & Van Nest
Best Practice Areas From Which To Move In-House (In Ranked Order)
- Technology Transactions
- Corporate (Emerging Company Practice)
- Corporate (M&A)
- Patent Prosecution
- Corporate (Capital Markets)
- Patent Litigation
- Labor & Employment
Top Bay Area Lifestyle Firms (Unfortunately, Not Too Many Exist)
- Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass
- Farella Braun & Martell
- Fenwick & West (but only for those who choose the 1,900 hour non-partner track)
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