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Fenwick & West LLP

Law Firms

GENERAL INFO

www.fenwick.com

Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
3 offices (Company stats)

THE BUZZ…
"Tech leader"
"Narrowly focused practice areas"
"Progressive, innovative"

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SALARIES


Fenwick & West LLP salary & compensation reviews include all signing and year-end bonuses, vacation time and other perks and reimbursements that make up total compensation.

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SURVEY SAYS


Slump leaves sour taste

The struggling economy has affected more than candidates' prospects at Fenwick. It has colored the attitude of many working lawyers. Fear of layoffs and "work shortages" have made some associates anxious and tense. One junior associate describes the situation in stark terms: "While on a theoretical level Fenwick is a nice place to work because the people who work here are largely laid-back and friendly, the terribly weak economy has turned the firm into a conspiracy-laden, whispering gossip mill where associates openly discuss being laid off. In addition," the attorney adds, "associates have taken to hoarding and stealing work because of the lack of interesting tasks, while the partners either ignore reality or choose not to believe that there is no work." Several associates in different practice groups have noted that "work tends to be sparse," and one litigator complains that "the firm has been dishonest about its plans to recover from the economic slump."





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DISCUSSIONS


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Fenwick & West LLP Perspective


History

Many technology law gurus throughout Silicon Valley claim to have been there at the creation. William Fenwick can claim to have been there before the creation. While a student in 1968, Fenwick authored a dissertation titled "Automation and the Law: The Challenge to the Attorney." The paper's conclusions must have been happy ones, as Fenwick and colleagues (including now-retired name partner Henry West: at the time, a refugee from New York's Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton) set out to provide sophisticated legal services in the next high-tech mecca. After considering promising locations in Florida and North Carolina, the founders eventually settled on Palo Alto, and opened shop in 1974.

Stats

1. Total number of attorneys: 311
a. Number of partners: 69
b. Number of of counsel: 8
c. Number of associates: 226
d. Number of lawyers working part-time: 5
3. Please provide the number of attorneys in each office:
Palo Alto -- 252; San Francisco -- 51; DC -- 7; Idaho -- 1
4. Please provide the number of attorneys working in each firm practice area:
Litigation -- 85; Corporate -- 119; Intellectual Property -- 87; Tax -- 20
5. Number of summer associates: 69
a. Expected number of full-time employment offers: 64
7. Minimum billable hour requirement: 1800

Visionaries


When Fenwick & West's founders decided to head to the Golden State in 1972, it was just in time to help start the tech revolution. The firm is renowned for its ground-breaking work at the intersection of law and technology. For the past three decades it has been on the forefront of some of Silicon Valley's most newsworthy deals. Back in 1976, home computing pioneer Apple Computers used the firm to incorporate. That was just the beginning. Today, Fenwick & West leads the pack in the industry's hottest technology deals, including the largest Internet deal ever-VeriSign's $21 billion acquisition of Network Solutions, the largest software merger ever-- Symantec's $13 billion acquisition of VERITAS-and one of the largest and most significant IP litigation payouts of 2005-Compuware's $400M settlement with IBM.

Getting Hired



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Tips from the inside

A buyer's market

In the current harsh economic climate, lawyers may find it harder than usual to land a spot at Fenwick & West. "Fenwick is always very selective," notes a junior litigator, "taking from top schools and a few area schools. Now that the economy has tightened up, they're interviewing at fewer schools and really concentrating on candidates with excellent technical backgrounds, high grades, journals and so on." Other respondents agree that the "competitiveness probably increases in this tough economy" because the Silicon Valley firm's "hiring needs are very limited" these days. However, assures one San Francisco lawyer, "this will change with an upturn" in the economic climate.


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Jobs in Law Firms

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NEWS AND UPDATES

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Video

''Job Talk: Dealing with the Economic Crisis'' How are employees dealing with the economic crisis?

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Featured Guide

Vault/MCCA Guide to Law Firm Diversity Programs
Vault/MCCA Guide to Law Firm Diversity Programs

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Over the past few years, most large U.S. law firms have devoted increasing resources to diversity initiatives as well as to the management and administration of these efforts. Nearly all have develope More info

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RESUME AND COVER LETTER SERVICES

Resume & Cover Letters
Submit your resume and cover letter receive an in-depth e-mailed critique with suggestions on revisions within two business days. Read more about resume and cover letters

Interview Preparation
Interview PreparationWhether you are a student facing your first real interview, switching jobs or changing careers, well make sure youre prepared to face any question. Read more about interview preparation

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FULL DISCLOSURE

SJL Attorney Search Founded in 2003, SJL Attorney Search, LLC is a legal recruitment firm that works closely with law firms and other sophisticated legal employers to identify, recruit and ultimately hire qualified attorneys.

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My time working at a law firm really hasn't convinced me that most of what lawyers do, especially at the more junior levels, really requires much intellectual creativity at all. So, the first part of my question is: how fair do you think this assessment is?This first question is really a subsidiary to the larger question I'm mulling over: should I go to law school?
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