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Future patent litigator here. All CA offices. Let me know if you want to know anything else.

Congratulations on those firms. I would choose either Orrick or Wilson for patent litigation.

OP here. I left off Knobbe Martens because I have kinda eliminated them. Should have included that I guess anyways.

Fabio Marino, I Neel Chatterjee, etc. is who you want to work for (Orrick Silicon Valley), did you get an offer from them??

Anonymous User wrote:Fabio Marino, I Neel Chatterjee, etc. is who you want to work for (Orrick Silicon Valley), did you get an offer from them??

No, LA.

what abt Howrey, is that SV? They've got Grewal, he's excellent.

I think if you specify office location, it helps a lot, some of these firms have deep benches in some offices, not so much in others.

Sorry for the vagueness, poor attempt to retain anonymity.

Fenwick = Silicon Valley
Fish = San Diego
Howrey = Silicon Valley
Knobbe = Orange County
Orrick = LA
Wilson = San Diego

Side comment: I had a REALLY difficult time convincing people I wanted to work in the bay area. For three of those, I screened with the SV office, and was CBed in SoCal anyways. I was told after I got an offer from one of the SV firms that they were reluctant based on my ties, but I guess they liked me anyways? I go to school IN the BAY AREA.

Side comment 2 - Grewal is leaving to be a magistrate.

I am refraining from making any comments of my own for a while re: preferences....but will eventually.

Anonymous User wrote:I was told after I got an offer from one of the SV firms that they were reluctant based on my ties, but I guess they liked me anyways?

Also - Grewal is leaving to be a magistrate.

1) That is weird that a firm would say they're reluctant based on your ties - AFTER giving you an offer???
2) I'm shocked that Grewal is leaving to become a judge, weird.
3) Stay away from Fish
4) The rest are all really good firms, none of them is CLEARLY better than any other - although Knobbe is obviously a boutique firm. I know someone who turned down Knobbe for Fenwick, I believe, can't remember why off the top of my head.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those options other than Fish, which sucks because Fish used to be a great, great firm.

old thread but curious what you decided and why. i got a good impression from fish overall. despite all their negative press. i also have an interest in knobbe - though i'm not specifically going for lit.

Anonymous User wrote:old thread but curious what you decided and why. i got a good impression from fish overall. despite all their negative press. i also have an interest in knobbe - though i'm not specifically going for lit.

Go with Knobbe. Cool bunch of cats there.

That was my original impression. Their class size is a little scary. I.e. is a class of 30 or 40 really viable in a firm of ~250? And there's the pay scale (which I actually in the dark about). But it seems they work less.

Bosque wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:old thread but curious what you decided and why. i got a good impression from fish overall. despite all their negative press. i also have an interest in knobbe - though i'm not specifically going for lit.

Go with Knobbe. Cool bunch of cats there.

Knobbe was pretty awesome...firm culture seemed real chill, and the office was great. Plus, a group of attorneys surf on Friday mornings...I thought that was really cool.

How ironic that Howrey has the most votes in the poll...

I actually think Knobbe is better than most of the firms on the list.

Fenwick's work environment is not very good. I have a friend who's working there and according to her it's not very collegial and there are a lot of a**holes.

Howrey is definitely not a firm you want to be joining at the moment considering they are losing partners left and right.

Wilson is a pretty good firm but they have a "eat what you kill" system where you really need to play office politics in order not to get screwed over.

Fish and Orrick are both good firms but they have both laid associates off and are still trying to build their revenue again after being hit hard during the recession.

jhett wrote:I actually think Knobbe is better than most of the firms on the list.

Fenwick's work environment is not very good. I have a friend who's working there and according to her it's not very collegial and there are a lot of a**holes.

Howrey is definitely not a firm you want to be joining at the moment considering they are losing partners left and right.

Wilson is a pretty good firm but they have a "eat what you kill" system where you really need to play office politics in order not to get screwed over.

Fish and Orrick are both good firms but they have both laid associates off and are still trying to build their revenue again after being hit hard during the recession.

From my (albeit limited) knowledge of IP in California, this assessment seems about right.