Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

01 August 2007

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Who's Who Legal: California

Wilson Sonsini’s client base is both broad and influential, and it represents start-up companies right through to some of the world’s major multinationals. Since its inception in Palo Alto the firm has continued to expand and can now offer clients a presence in New York; Austin; Salt Lake City; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Washington, DC; and Shanghai.


Founding partner and chairman Larry Sonsini appears in three chapters of the publication – Capital Markets, Corporate Governance, and Mergers and Acquisitions. Sonsini is perhaps one of the United States’ most recognised and respected corporate lawyers and one source in our capital markets research highlighted him as “the biggest name in the valley and a significant part of the firm’s lifeblood”. Key transactions include working on Google’s IPO. John Fore heads the firm’s corporate finance practice and joins Sonsini in the chapter. Sonsini is also well known on the corporate governance front, an area in which he’s rated as “the dean of the California bar”. He’s said to know “more about technology clients than anyone else” and currently serves as chairman of the New York Stock Exchange’s regulation, enforcement and listing standards committee and as chairman of its legal advisory committee. The firm’s presence is most strongly felt in the merger and acquisition chapter, where Sonsini leads the voting. Sources recommend him as a “legend” and “one of the top corporate lawyers in the States”. He has worked on numerous high-profile matters including Hewlett-Packard’s merger with Compaq Computer. Martin Korman heads the firm’s M&A practice and “his excellence is widely recognised”.

Representative clients include Palm, Altiris, and Freescale Semiconductor. Michael Ringler in San Francisco comes recommended as a “very focused and impressive individual”. The firm also features in the competition chapter where Chris Compton has an excellent reputation for merger-related work. Compton served as counsel to YouTube in its $1.65 billion acquisition by Google.


The private funds chapter contains another cluster of Wilson Sonsini partners. Jonathan Axelrad’s is “a name you always hear” and he’s said to have a “great reputation in the VC field”. Ivan Humphreys is well known for corporate tax work, an area on which he has lectured extensively.


Fred Alvarez is a “prominent name” in the management labour & employment chapter. The firm’s final nomination comes in the trademarks section where it is represented by John Slafsky. Representative clients include Pony, Autodesk, Expedia, Sequoia Capital and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

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