Bay Area: San Francisco and Silicon Valley

Our clients reflect the California economy and its global influence. We represent the world’s leading public tech companies and more than 1,600 startups, including some of the most exciting disruptors. We act for renewable energy pioneers, Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions and funds, and the state of California and its municipal entities. Our local practice mirrors our global focus: advising the technology, energy & infrastructure and finance clients in their highest-stakes transactional, litigation and compliance matters.

Technology

We practice at the heart of the technology ecosystem, providing comprehensive support for tech companies at every stage of the corporate life cycle. Our practice for both public and private tech companies encompasses financing, M&A, corporate governance, IP asset protection, cybersecurity, executive compensation and employment. We offer one of the premier IP, litigation and compliance teams for the tech sector. And we do it all globally, enabling us to scale with our clients. We represent public companies in U.S. and cross-border investments, working with our tech-focused lawyers in 25 markets worldwide. In recognition of the broad nature of our practice, Law360 has recognized our team as one of four Technology Groups of the Year globally for the past two years.

We’re especially focused on helping disruptors address the complex legal and policy issues that their innovative models often raise. We’ve completed some of the most successful financing rounds for unicorns such as Pinterest, Stripe, 23andMe, SoFi, Prosper and many others. And The Recorder named us 2016 Corporate Department of the Year for Emerging Companies. We’ve also closed a string of tech IPOs and follow-on offerings. And we’ve helped our tech clients execute landmark sales, including Nest’s sale to Google and Yammer’s sale to Microsoft. Recently, we advised Cruise Automation, a leader in the development of driverless car technology, in its acquisition by General Motors.

Intellectual Property

Our IP litigators have prevailed in landmark cases in the tech sector – and are litigating some of the most closely watched cases before the courts today. As The American Lawyer wrote in selecting us as IP Litigation Department of the Year for 2016, "[T]ime and again, we heard stories [from clients] lauding Orrick’s ability to jump into a case and successfully dig its clients out of a hole, even with little time to prepare."

We protect innovation. Our team acted for Oracle in its multibillion-dollar copyright infringement case against Google, where we created new law related to the copyrightability of software on appeal. We also represented the company in a high-profile retrial of copyright infringement claims against Google. Our success stems from our deep understanding of the underlying technology (not surprising, given that our team includes over 60 litigators with technical degrees) combined with proven courtroom skills. As The American Lawyer noted, we’ve shown this "across an impressive range of venues, using novel strategies. …" Our practice covers all types of intellectual property, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, privacy and data protection litigation.

Energy

Our energy project development, finance and M&A team is part of a global practice that covers all energy assets, with its hub in Houston and team members in offices worldwide. Reflecting the California market, our Bay Area team has deep experience in renewables. We helped launch the U.S. renewables market in the 1980s, when we advised on the first-ever institutionally financed wind development. Since then we’ve played a leading role in the expansion of solar and wind power. We’ve also advised on some of the largest combinations in the renewables sector, including the $2.4 billion acquisition by a leading global solar energy developer of substantial wind and solar assets. We assisted more than 25 different bidders in the California utilities’ recent solicitations for new renewables, gas and storage projects. Our results are recognized in the market: In 2015, our team was selected as a Project Finance Group of the Year by Law360 for a third time.

Finance

Public Finance

Go anywhere in the Bay Area and you’re likely to see the impact of our top-ranked Public Finance team’s work. Our practice began more than a century ago with the financing of the Golden Gate Bridge. Over the years, we’ve secured financing of landmark projects such as Candlestick Park, the Bay Bridge, BART and the Moscone Center. We’re currently working on the Transbay Transit Center, dubbed "Grand Central Station of the West." We’re especially proud to work on financings with a social impact, including in education and affordable housing. We recently advised the City of Richmond on the nation’s first use of a social impact bond issue to fund the acquisition and rehabilitation of a blighted neighborhood.

Real Estate

The work of our Real Estate finance team extends up and down the West Coast – from the most environmentally friendly on-airport hotel in San Francisco to a new arena complex for the Sacramento Kings – and around the world. We’ve helped guide some of the industry’s most remarkable and challenging deals for real estate giants like Westbrook Partners, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, Tokyu Land Corporation, LaSalle Investment Management and Fortress Investment Group.

Tax

Our Tax team provides support on these deals as well as corporate, project finance and public finance transactions.