Despite muted hopes for a quick recovery in M&A deals in early 2023, the outlook for tech deals is far from bright, leading Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr to pick up Fenwick & West corporate partner Stephen Gillespie in San Francisco.
Gillespie spent approximately 25 years at Fenwick where he advised on Amazon.com, Cisco Systems, Goldman Sachs and NortonLifeLock, among others.
He joined Wilmer on Tuesday, where he will continue to advise technology clients on strategic partnerships and technology transactions, and will bring his intellectual property knowledge to bear on issues arising from M&A deals and licensing agreements.
“Stephen’s addition will help us restore the corporate presence in San Francisco that we have long had in Palo Alto… and reaffirms our commitment to our transactions practice, Northern California as a whole, and San Francisco,” said Michael Mugmon, associate head of the firm’s office in San Francisco.
“We started with 10 attorneys in our Palo Alto office, have grown to 24 attorneys today, and are expected to reach 30 attorneys by February,” he said.
Given Mugmon’s forecast, Wilmer is on track to triple the size of its San Francisco office since it opened in May 2019, during which time it has increased the number of its local partners from three to eight.
Although Wilmer was founded in San Francisco in recognition of a rapidly growing legal market that differs from the corporate landscape of Silicon Valley, Mugmon says the firm works closely with the firm’s 52 attorneys in Palo Alto.
Am Law 50, which has its roots in Boston and Washington, DC through a merger, also has approximately 34 attorneys in Los Angeles. “Across our three California offices, more than 10% of our total attorneys are now California residents,” Mugmon said.
In San Francisco, the company initially focused on its strengths in investigative and pro-government practices. Last year, the company hired Gibson Dunn & Crutcher trial attorney Joshua Lerner and Davina Pujari, head of Hanson Bridgett’s environmental practice, in San Francisco. In 2020, they were joined by Fenwick securities litigators Susan Muck and Kevin Muck.
Gillespie said he was attracted to Wilmer’s nationwide technology transaction and licensing practice, which serves a variety of industries and geographies, as well as its deep regulatory practice.
“Turning 58 this year, I’ve been thinking about how I want to structure my practice for the last decade,” Gillespie said. “It became clear that I could make a significant contribution to the growth of Wilmer Hale’s technology transactions practice from my base in San Francisco.”
“We have a tremendous opportunity to tap into the talent pool in the Bay Area and attract people into technology transactions, IP and corporate transactions,” he said.
The office is “still in growth mode” and the company “has always been carefully run and caring for its employees,” added Mugmon. “I don’t expect that to change.”
Although slowing capital markets and M&A transactions severely impacted the Bay Area in 2022, Gillespie said there was no similar impact on technology deals. Wilmer’s nationwide presence has mitigated any downturn in a single sector, he said.
Indeed, “during periods of relatively low investment and more recently in 2022, technology transactions have tended to increase where mergers and acquisitions have declined,” Gillespie continued. “Companies are looking for strategic alliances, new sales channels and cooperations. That’s enough for M&A.”
Though price expectations are still unbalanced, he said big buyers could accelerate their acquisition activity if valuations reset and normalize.
“Wilmer Hale has tremendous strengths in corporate and transactional practices,” said Gillespie. “I expect the company to continue growing in the technology M&A market. I look forward to bringing deep technology and IP expertise to M&A and traditional technology transactions and licensing agreements.”
Fenwick wishes Gillespie all the best in his new venture, a company spokesman said.
