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Deb, Paul Weiss, Wilmer, Cleary, and I'm sure several other firms have opened up offices in SF since 2019. What's driving this? Seems like they're mostly lit-focused and mostly catering to mature tech clients, but why now? Also, does anyone have vibes on these offices--I've heard chatter about Deb being a growth center and PW has some strong lit talent, but I don't know much more about them.

Why did John Dillinger rob banks?

Interviewed with a firm that opened an SF office in the past two years, the associate there said theres a ton of regulatory and advisory work coming in. They said the SF office was the busiest one for 2021

at one of the new sf offices and happy to answer any questions. don't want to be specific about which one considering we have barely any attorneys in our office

That’s not that many firms. I think 20-30 firms have opened Boston offices since 2017 or so. Firms probably just want to expand their tech reach in SF.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 04, 2022 5:23 pm

That’s not that many firms. I think 20-30 firms have opened Boston offices since 2017 or so. Firms probably just want to expand their tech reach in SF.

I think the point is more so that the timing is weird. The tech industry isn't new, and the Bay Area has been a major legal market for decades, so why now? I don't know much about Boston's legal market, but the situation there seems to be more easily traceable with growing industry.

I think in general firms have been getting used to multiple satellite offices scattered around the country. It's practical, and with increased remote/hybrid work, more feasible.

May have something to do with the size and frequency of tech acquisitions in recent years, think Slack, One Medical, Activision and countless smaller acquisitions. Big techs have been on a buying spree for a few years now but it takes a while for firms to catch up with opening new offices, much like firms opening SF/SV offices around 2000.

See all those explanations would make sense if we were talking about these offices being primarily transactional, but they're really not. Almost all of them are litigation-focused and specifically internal investigations-focused (see, e.g. Jenner). Is SF just the new frontier for high-stakes litigation and white collar work?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 08, 2022 2:07 pm

See all those explanations would make sense if we were talking about these offices being primarily transactional, but they're really not. Almost all of them are litigation-focused and specifically internal investigations-focused (see, e.g. Jenner). Is SF just the new frontier for high-stakes litigation and white collar work?

Huh interesting. I don't have SF knowledge but my impression (based on vibes and seeing a handful of new offices) is that it's easier to open a new office with litigation folks than with transactional. And the after it's established they tent to staff up transactional.