What Fenwick & West does

Fenwick & West LLP is a US-based law firm founded in 1972 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, with seven offices across Mountain View/Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Santa Monica, Boston, and Washington DC. The firm is structured as a limited liability partnership, employs 501-1,000 people (including more than 500 lawyers and over 100 litigation attorneys), and operates as a private partnership with no parent company or external institutional ownership. Its practice is purpose-built around the technology and life sciences industries, delivering integrated legal services across corporate (M&A, capital markets, venture capital, private equity, SPACs), intellectual property (patent prosecution, trademark, copyright, technology transactions, privacy/cybersecurity), litigation (securities, patent, trademark, trade secret, white collar), regulatory (antitrust, healthcare, fintech, trade & national security, government contracts), and tax/employee benefits. The firm markets a separate flexible-service sub-brand called FLEX by Fenwick.

The firm generates revenue through hourly billing and matter-based fees on professional services engagements, with no publicly disclosed pricing. Its go-to-market is enterprise field sales executed via direct client engagement supported by long-standing referral pipelines from top-tier venture capital firms, investment banks, and corporate counsel relationships. Fenwick's client base spans 1,500+ VC-backed companies, 70+ unicorns, 100+ billion-dollar companies as primary counsel, and serves as primary corporate counsel to nearly 50% of Silicon Valley's top 150 public tech companies by revenue. Notable clients include Meta, Cisco, Coinbase, Databricks, Figma, CoreWeave, Wiz, Dexcom, Loxo Oncology, GoPro, Wealthfront, Nextdoor, and BILL.

Fenwick's underlying technology footprint is limited but includes proprietary electronic discovery systems that reduce client e-discovery spending by 20% relative to alternatives, with massive document storage, Unicode foreign-language search, and specialized IT collaboration tools supporting litigation and regulatory engagements. The firm has completed more than 2,900 transactions representing over $850 billion in aggregate value in recent years and handles approximately $650 billion in annual transaction value, with nearly 75% involving technology companies. Recent marquee mandates include the Wiz $32B acquisition by Google, Figma's $1.2B IPO, CoreWeave's $1.5B IPO, Day One Biopharmaceuticals' $2.5B sale to Servier, and Smartsheet's $8.4B acquisition by Blackstone/Vista. The firm faces material exposure from FTX-related litigation, including a $54 million class-action settlement (February 2026) and a pending $525 million lawsuit.

Name

Fenwick & West

Legal name

Fenwick & West LLP

Website

http://www.fenwick.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1972

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Fenwick & West is a US limited liability partnership law firm founded in 1972, headquartered in Silicon Valley, specializing in legal services for technology and life sciences companies across corporate, IP, litigation, and regulatory practices. It serves 1,500+ VC-backed companies and 100+ billion-dollar clients through seven US offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

M&A Advisory (Buy-side/Sell-side) (BPAHADAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Capital Markets Advisory (IPO Readiness, SPAC, ECM/DCM Advisory) (BPAHAOAL), White-Collar Defense & Investigations (BPAHAAAJ)

Keywords

• Technology legal services
• Life sciences legal counsel
• Mergers acquisitions law
• Venture capital financing
• Intellectual property law

Headquarters

HQ city

Mountain View

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Transactional: Revenue from providing legal counsel on high-value corporate transactions including M&A, IPOs, venture capital financings, and capital markets transactions. The firm handles transformative transactions and represents buyers, sellers, founders, executives and investors.
2. Legal Services - Litigation: Revenue from comprehensive litigation services including patent litigation, securities litigation, complex commercial litigation, and regulatory enforcement defense for technology and life sciences companies.
3. Legal Services - Intellectual Property: Revenue from IP counseling, patent prosecution and litigation, trademark registration and enforcement, copyright protection, and technology transactions for innovative technology and life sciences companies.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Fenwick & West is a law firm providing full-service legal advisory across Corporate (M&A, capital markets, venture capital, private equity, SPACs), Intellectual Property (patents, trademarks, copyright, privacy/cybersecurity), Litigation (patent, securities, complex commercial, white collar), Regulatory (antitrust, healthcare, fintech, trade/national security), and Tax practices. Services are tailored for technology and life sciences companies and delivered through approximately 500+ attorneys across seven U.S. offices.

Product overview

Fenwick & West is a law firm, not a software product company. It provides legal services across multiple practice areas to technology and life sciences companies. The firm offers corporate services (including M&A, capital markets, venture capital, private equity), intellectual property services (patents, trademarks, copyright, privacy & cybersecurity), litigation services (securities, patent, trademark, trade secret, white collar defense), regulatory services (antitrust, government contracts, trade & national security), and executive compensation & employee benefits counseling. The firm also offers a separate service brand called 'FLEX by Fenwick' for flexible legal services. These are legal service offerings, not software products or technology platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FLEX by Fenwick: A service offering by Fenwick providing flexible legal services.

Products and services

• Corporate Legal Services
• Intellectual Property Legal Services
• Litigation Legal Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Completed more than 2,900 transactions representing aggregate value of over $850 billion in recent years
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• GoProminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 13 May 2026Fenwick & West serving as legal advisor to GoPro for the review process of evaluating potential sale and strategic alternatives following unsolicited inbound inquiries from parties in defense, consumer, and financial sectors.
• Houlihan LokeyminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerInvestment bank retained by GoPro as financial advisor for sale review process, with Fenwick serving as legal advisor alongside Houlihan Lokey's advisory services.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Cooley LLP: Cooley is the most direct competitor to Fenwick, offering a similarly elite technology and life sciences focused legal practice with comparable VC, M&A, and IPO capabilities. Both firms serve the same Silicon Valley tech ecosystem and frequently compete for the same unicorn client mandates.
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati: Wilson Sonsini is the pre-eminent Silicon Valley tech and life sciences law firm and Fenwick's primary rival for high-value public company, IPO, and venture capital work. Both firms serve a substantially overlapping client base of public tech companies, unicorns, and venture capital investors.
• Goodwin Procter LLP: Goodwin is a major tech and life sciences focused law firm with strong venture capital, M&A, and capital markets practices. It competes directly with Fenwick for technology company representations and has grown its life sciences practice to rival Fenwick's specialized offerings.
• Gunderson Dettmer: Gunderson Dettmer is a venture capital-focused law firm that frequently competes with Fenwick for emerging company and VC-side mandates. While narrower in practice breadth, it has strong relationships with many of the same VC investors and unicorn clients.

Broad incumbents

• Latham & Watkins LLP: Latham is one of the world's largest law firms with a substantial technology and life sciences practice that overlaps significantly with Fenwick's work. As a global full-service firm, Latham offers broader geographic reach and practice breadth but does not specialize as deeply in startup/VC matters.
• Kirkland & Ellis LLP: Kirkland is the largest law firm in the world by revenue and has built a significant technology M&A and private equity practice. While not as tech-startup-focused as Fenwick, it increasingly competes for large-cap tech M&A and public company representations.
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP: Skadden is a major global law firm with strong M&A, capital markets, and securities enforcement practices that overlap with Fenwick's corporate and litigation offerings. It serves many large-cap tech and life sciences companies but with a broader industry focus.
• Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP: Davis Polk is a premier Wall Street law firm with elite capital markets, M&A, and securities enforcement practices that compete for the largest tech IPO and M&A matters. Its tech practice has grown substantially and now overlaps meaningfully with Fenwick's high-end transactional work.
• Sullivan & Cromwell LLP: Sullivan & Cromwell is a leading global law firm with a strong capital markets and M&A practice that competes for premium tech IPO and strategic transaction mandates. It serves many large public tech companies that overlap with Fenwick's client base.

Regional players

• Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP: Orrick has a significant technology and energy practice with strong West Coast presence, frequently competing with Fenwick for venture financings, tech M&A, and emerging company representations. While more diversified industrially than Fenwick, it shares a similar Silicon Valley-centric positioning.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fenwickwest
• Facebookfacebook.com/fenwick
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fenwick-&-west
• Instagraminstagram.com/fenwickllp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments28 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fenwick & West