Magic circle player moves into thriving San Fran tech hub
Freshfields is to open a new office in Silicon Valley, an area in Northern California perhaps best known for being home to some of the world’s largest tech companies.
The magic circle player — which already has two offices in the US, in New York and Washington — has assembled what it describes as a “dream team” of seven founding partners through five external hires and two internal moves.
Sarah Solum joins from US firm Davis Polk and will head up the Silicon Valley outpost as managing partner. John Fisher and Maj Vaseghi join from Sidley Austin and Latham & Watkins, while Boris Feldman and Doru Gavril join from California outfit Wilson Sonsini. They will team-up with existing Freshfields duo, Pamela Marcogliese and Alan Ryan.
“Silicon Valley is one of the most dynamic regions in the world and it continues to lead innovation across the globe,” Freshfields’ chair Edward Braham said. “The impact and strategic importance of technology and life sciences businesses will only continue to grow and advisers who can provide strategic counsel on key domestic issues within a global context will be highly prized. We are thrilled to have five of the country’s top corporate and litigation lawyers from the Bay Area join us to deliver the firm and its expertise seamlessly in Northern California.”
Silicon Valley is widely considered to be the global centre for tech, innovation and social media, with the likes of Apple, Facebook, Google and Netflix (to name just a few) all operating in the area — potential rich pickings for corporate lawyers.
Ethan Klingsberg, partner and head of US corporate and M&A at Freshfields, added:
“Combining this dream team of talent with our global platform and our high-powered teams in New York and DC enables us to respond to the needs of Bay Area clients. These needs are global, complex and demanding of constant focus and creativity.”
