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I'm interested in patent litigation and I would like to know if anyone can talk to me about where they stack up in Silicon Valley in terms of getting good litigation work now and in the future.

Has anyone worked in this office? Any idea on their future prospects?

Haven't worked at the office, but here's what i've gathered.

Weil's Silicon Valley office used to be pretty much the top group for electrical & software related patent litigation in the nation. But this was mainly because they had Matt Powers - THE go-to guy for bigtime patent disputes among the big players (Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, etc.). But he left the firm recently to form his own plaintiffs shop, and took with him another bigshot partner and a few senior associates from the SV office. Upon his departure, Powers agreed to share his old clients with Weil, but who knows. It doesn't bode well for Weil that even after Powers left Weil, he's still representing them as the chief counsel in their current cases for their major clients. All that being said, given Weil SV's reputation, it won't lose all its old clients.. but it likely will be hard pressed to regain its spot at the top.

On the other hand, if you join the office and it struggles in securing big cases (or even worse, other partners leave), then you can prob lateral to almost any other firm, and maybe even to Powers' new plantiffs boutique

Anonymous User wrote:I'm interested in patent litigation and I would like to know if anyone can talk to me about where they stack up in Silicon Valley in terms of getting good litigation work now and in the future.

Has anyone worked in this office? Any idea on their future prospects?

I'm an IP litigator in the area. The previous poster nailed it, and Weil's future in IP lit is questionable but probably not totally risky. But if you have offers at, say, KE or maybe even Quinn, its probably a better bet.

e_sack wrote:Haven't worked at the office, but here's what i've gathered.

Weil's Silicon Valley office used to be pretty much the top group for electrical & software related patent litigation in the nation. But this was mainly because they had Matt Powers - THE go-to guy for bigtime patent disputes among the big players (Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, etc.). But he left the firm recently to form his own plaintiffs shop, and took with him another bigshot partner and a few senior associates from the SV office. Upon his departure, Powers agreed to share his old clients with Weil, but who knows. It doesn't bode well for Weil that even after Powers left Weil, he's still representing them as the chief counsel in their current cases for their major clients. All that being said, given Weil SV's reputation, it won't lose all its old clients.. but it likely will be hard pressed to regain its spot at the top.

On the other hand, if you join the office and it struggles in securing big cases (or even worse, other partners leave), then you can prob lateral to almost any other firm, and maybe even to Powers' new plantiffs boutique

Because of the reputation of the firm? The experiences it offers young associates?

Ideally, I wouldn't have to lateral.

Anonymous User wrote:

e_sack wrote:Haven't worked at the office, but here's what i've gathered.

Weil's Silicon Valley office used to be pretty much the top group for electrical & software related patent litigation in the nation. But this was mainly because they had Matt Powers - THE go-to guy for bigtime patent disputes among the big players (Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, etc.). But he left the firm recently to form his own plaintiffs shop, and took with him another bigshot partner and a few senior associates from the SV office. Upon his departure, Powers agreed to share his old clients with Weil, but who knows. It doesn't bode well for Weil that even after Powers left Weil, he's still representing them as the chief counsel in their current cases for their major clients. All that being said, given Weil SV's reputation, it won't lose all its old clients.. but it likely will be hard pressed to regain its spot at the top.

On the other hand, if you join the office and it struggles in securing big cases (or even worse, other partners leave), then you can prob lateral to almost any other firm, and maybe even to Powers' new plantiffs boutique

Because of the reputation of the firm? The experiences it offers young associates?

Ideally, I wouldn't have to lateral.

Both, but mainly because of the reputation of the firm. Weil has long been a V10 firm, and firms know that its patent lit group is among the best of the best. This won't change overnight.

But what may change overnight is its clientele. Powers pretty much founded Weil's patent lit practice. And the group's been kept small and elite, probably because Powers has had his hands on pretty much every patent case Weil has taken on. With the departure of Powers and other key patent lit partners (not just SV but across other offices as well), and of the associates who followed them, the size of the group's been literally halved. This aint like Desmarais departing Kirkland&Ellis - KE has a huge and diverse patent lit practice so it can withstand the departure of its top dog. Weil - it's not certain. No one can tell you what's going to happen right now

So like the above poster said, if you have options at other top IP lit firms in SV like fenwick, mofo, jonesday, cooley, etc., and you d rather not lateral, then those may be the better bet.

Like the above poster said, I

e_sack wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

e_sack wrote:Haven't worked at the office, but here's what i've gathered.

Weil's Silicon Valley office used to be pretty much the top group for electrical & software related patent litigation in the nation. But this was mainly because they had Matt Powers - THE go-to guy for bigtime patent disputes among the big players (Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, etc.). But he left the firm recently to form his own plaintiffs shop, and took with him another bigshot partner and a few senior associates from the SV office. Upon his departure, Powers agreed to share his old clients with Weil, but who knows. It doesn't bode well for Weil that even after Powers left Weil, he's still representing them as the chief counsel in their current cases for their major clients. All that being said, given Weil SV's reputation, it won't lose all its old clients.. but it likely will be hard pressed to regain its spot at the top.

On the other hand, if you join the office and it struggles in securing big cases (or even worse, other partners leave), then you can prob lateral to almost any other firm, and maybe even to Powers' new plantiffs boutique

Because of the reputation of the firm? The experiences it offers young associates?

Ideally, I wouldn't have to lateral.

Both, but mainly because of the reputation of the firm. Weil has long been a V10 firm, and firms know that its patent lit group is among the best of the best. This won't change overnight.

But what may change overnight is its clientele. Powers pretty much founded Weil's patent lit practice. And the group's been kept small and elite, probably because Powers has had his hands on pretty much every patent case Weil has taken on. With the departure of Powers and other key patent lit partners (not just SV but across other offices as well), and of the associates who followed them, the size of the group's been literally halved. This aint like Desmarais departing Kirkland&Ellis - KE has a huge and diverse patent lit practice so it can withstand the departure of its top dog. Weil - it's not certain. No one can tell you what's going to happen right now

So like the above poster said, if you have options at other top IP lit firms in SV like fenwick, mofo, jonesday, cooley, etc., and you d rather not lateral, then those may be the better bet.

Like the above poster said, I

This. Kirkland is likely to stay on top, and Quinn may replace Weil for second place.