Palo Alto (December 1, 2009) – Sidley Austin LLP announced today that it is opening an office in Palo Alto, California. The firm will launch the office with lawyers practicing in the areas of corporate, technology transactions and IP litigation. The Palo Alto office will complement Sidley’s strong presence throughout California, with over 200 lawyers in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
“The Silicon Valley, as a worldwide center of innovation, has been in our sights for strategic expansion,” said Thomas A. Cole, Chairman of Sidley Austin’s Executive Committee. “Our Palo Alto office will establish a significant presence with veteran attorneys who understand the process of technology innovation. Sidley has a well-recognized reputation in areas critical to emerging and established technology companies, including capital markets, M&A, regulatory compliance in key areas such as life sciences and ‘clean tech,’ and investment fund services. Our new office also will be an integral part of Sidley’s global platform, which includes six offices in Asia and four in Europe.”
The founding partners of the Palo Alto office will be –
· Tom DeFilipps. Tom will be joining Sidley from Wilson Sonsini, where he has pursued a corporate/transactional practice serving public and private technology companies since 1982. Tom will serve as the Office Managing Partner.
· Deborah Marshall. Deborah has joined Sidley from the Howard Rice law firm in San Francisco, where she chaired its business department and was a member of the management committee. Deborah began her career at Wilson Sonsini before joining Cooley Godward, where she served as head of the firm’s Palo Alto office and then chair of the firm’s business department.
· Hank Barry. Hank also has joined Sidley from Howard Rice, after having previously served as a general partner of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and CEO of Napster, Inc. Hank was previously a partner at Wilson Sonsini and served on that firm’s executive committee.
· Ed Anderson and Bob Morrill. Sidley partner Ed Anderson joins the Palo Alto office from Sidley’s San Francisco office, after having served as managing partner of the Silicon Valley office of Skjerven Morrill. Bob Morrill, who founded Skjerven Morrill and came to Sidley with Ed in 2003, will also be in the Palo Alto office.
Also joining the Palo Alto office will be Stephen Fronk, previously a partner with Howard Rice, who focuses on intellectual property and technology transactions, and Bryan Anderson, Peter Kang, and Georgia Van Zanten, who practiced in the Silicon Valley office of Skjerven Morrill before coming to Sidley in 2003.
“We are delighted to be launching the Palo Alto office with a first-rate team of lawyers with strong ties to the Silicon Valley community,” said Anne E. Rea, the member of Sidley’s Management Committee responsible for its West Coast offices. “Sidley has enjoyed success in major Silicon Valley transactions, having recently represented eBay in the $1.9 billion sale of Skype, and Sidley regularly represents Silicon Valley companies in patent litigation. Our new Palo Alto office will bring ever greater resources to serving emerging and established technology clients in a key global technology center.”
The telephone number of Sidley’s Palo Alto office is (650) 617-3400. Effective immediately, Deborah Marshall can be reached at damarshall@sidley.com and Hank Barry at hbarry@sidley.com. Effective December 4, Stephen Fronk can be reached at sfronk@sidley.com. Tom DeFilipps’ new e-mail address will be made available on the Sidley website on the date he has formally joined the firm.
Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world’s largest full-service law firms, with approximately 1700 lawyers practicing in 17 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Every year since 2003, Sidley has been named to Legal Business’ Global Elite, its designation for the 18 firms “that define the pinnacle of the legal profession.” Sidley is recognized for service and responsiveness—BTI, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, has named Sidley as one of only two firms to have been in the top ten of the BTI Client Service rankings every year since the inception of those rankings in 2001, and was number one in three of those years.
