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Curious if people had any thought about the nyc firms doing startup or tech transactions work. What do you like or dislike about each of the firms that do startup/tech work in nyc?

Sense is that Gunderson focuses more on early stage which feeds into their culture while Cooley is more of a mix with cap markets.

Bumping this out of curiosity/interest. Can anyone familiar with these firms/the NY market provide some context?

From what I understand, whereas in SV Cooley/Gunderson/Wilson/Fenwick are all very similar and somewhat interchangeable (albeit with their own specialities and idiosyncrasies), Gunderson is way beyond anyone else in NY. Fenwick just opened an office in NY, Cooley only has a handful of partners focused on startups/VC, and Wilson is mostly focused on larger companies.

TLDR: My take is that in NY, Gunderson is the undisputed leader in working with emerging companies/VC. Can anyone confirm, deny, or comment on this?

I interviewed with WSGR NY. Basically only two partners focused on getting companies to IPO, so cap markets-heavy. Don't think they do tech trans in NY. Don't know anything about the others except to echo above poster that Fenwick only recently opened a NY office. Think Gunderson/Cooley clearly the biggest presence.

Don't count Goodwin out of the equation here.

Cooley poached WSGR's entire startup/VC presence in NYC last summer...associates included.

Bumping again. Would love to get an informed answer to the questions posed above. Someone prowling the forums here must work at either Gunderson/Cooley, etc. or at least have some knowledge on it...

If you want to work with early stage companies in NY, Gunderson is probably your best bet. I've been seeing a lot of Goodwin on my investor-side deals (i.e. where my firm reps the investors) as well. Cooley has a small team and WSGR focuses more on late stage companies. Fenwick will be a big deal eventually, but their NYC team is pretty small at the moment, and does a lot of work on CA-based deals. I imagine that would be kind of a bear given the time diff.

I think part of the reason there isn't much input is that the EC/VC biglaw space in NYC is actually surprising small, IMO. I work for an EC/VC heavy firm on the west coast and have worked a bit with our east coast office. I would say Gunderson and Cooley are your best bets, in that order. Remember lots of EC/VCs around the country (and the world) work with lawyers in the Bay Area.

What about Orrick or Wilmer?