Fenwick

Firm Chairman: Richard L. Dickson

Managing Partner: Rodger R. Cole

Number of partners: 143

Number of lawyers: 529

Languages: Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Cantonese, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Taiwanese, Tamil, Toisan, Turkish, Urdu

Firm Overview

​​​​​​Over the last 50 years, Fenwick has helped some of the world’s leading companies climb to the top of the market—and stay there. With more than 80 technical degrees and a wealth of first-hand tech and life sciences industry experience, we don’t just speak our clients’ language, we translate and amplify it to investors, regulators, and courts. And just like our clients, the spirit of progress drives us. That’s why we’ve made deep investments in proprietary, technology-driven tools and processes to better and more efficiently serve our clients as they take command of established territories and conquer new frontiers. Our clients demand—and deserve—new ways to receive best-in-class legal services more effectively. At Fenwick, we are proud to be shaping our legal services to do just that.​​​​​​

Main Areas of Practice

Corporate

• Capital Markets
• Compensation & Benefits
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Venture
• ESG & Sustainability
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Private Equity
• Private Investment Funds
• Public Companies
• SPACs
• Startup & Venture Capital

Intellectual Property

• Copyright
• Open Source
• Patents & Emerging Technologies
• Privacy & Cybersecurity
• Technology Transactions
• Trade Secrets
• Trademark

Litigation

• Appellate
• Complex Litigation
• Consumer Class Actions & Mass Arbitration
• Copyright Litigation
• Employment
• Patent Litigation
• Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) Proceedings
• Securities Enforcement
• Securities Litigation
• Trade Secret Litigation
• Trademark Litigation
• White Collar & Regulatory Defense

Regulatory

• Antitrust & Competition
• Government Contracts & Public Sector Procurement
• Healthcare Regulatory
• Payment Systems
• Trade & National Security

Tax

Industry Focus:

• Advanced Transportation & Robotics
• AI & Machine Learning
• Blockchain & Cryptocurrency
• Climatetech
• Consumer Technologies & Retail
• Defense Innovation & Govtech
• Digital Media & Entertainment
• Fintech
• Games
• Hardware
• Healthtech
• Insurtech
• Life Sciences
• Semiconductors
• Software
• Space & Aerotech

Corporate:

Recognized among America's most trusted corporate law firms, Fenwick partners with pioneering technology and life sciences companies at all stages of development—from promising early startups to the world’s best-known publicly traded corporations. Our lawyers are recognized for practical legal and business guidance, focusing on startups and venture capital, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation and benefits, and corporate governance. We represent companies, including buyers and sellers, founders, executives, and investors. Collaborating across offices and disciplines, our teams work with clients on transformative transactions involving cutting-edge technologies including those related to enterprise software, SaaS/cloud, security, consumer tech, digital media and gaming, digital health, and life sciences. The group has regularly been ranked in the highest tiers by Chambers USA for our capital markets, M&A, technology transactions, venture capital, and startups and emerging companies work. Fenwick was also named one of the world’s most active venture capital law firms according to PitchBook’s Global League Tables.

Intellectual Property:

Fenwick's commercially savvy intellectual property lawyers partner with companies at all stages of their lifecycle to create, monetize, manage and protect their most valuable intellectual property assets to further in the context of their key business objectives. Our IP counseling, transactions, and prosecution professionals represent many of the world’s most innovative technology and life sciences companies—from developers of futuristic life-prolonging technologies to those that are investing in the next wave of artificial intelligence, augmented reality, automation, and robotics products and tools. We also collaborate closely with our corporate, litigation, and tax teams to deliver full-service strategic counsel. Fenwick’s intellectual property group is regularly recognized by leading publications for its novel work. Managing Intellectual Property named Fenwick the U.S. Patent Prosecution Firm of the Year (2023 & 2022), Patent Prosecution Firm of the Year for the western U.S. (2024, 2022 & 2021), U.S. Trademark Prosecution Firm of the Year and Trademark Prosecution Firm of the Year for the western U.S. for the third time in five years (2021 & 2020). In addition, Fenwick has been regularly named a leading U.S. firm for intellectual property, patent, and privacy and data security work by Chambers Global and Chambers USA.

Litigation:

Fenwick’s litigation group helps our clients, from startups to market leaders, navigate complex, multi-jurisdiction disputes. Our technology-based clients—including leaders in the Internet, computer hardware and software, digital media and entertainment, semiconductor, biotechnology, and medical device industries—routinely call upon us to handle their most critical disputes. To meet the needs of these clients, we invest heavily to ensure we understand the businesses and technologies behind their products, services, and inventions. As one of the leading firms for trademark enforcement and litigation as well as copyright, securities, and commercial litigation, Fenwick is frequently honored for our work in these areas by leading publications including Chambers USA, Managing Intellectual Property, and World Trademark Review.

Regulatory:

Fenwick’s regulatory lawyers are leaders in antitrust, government contracts, cross-border trade, and national security law. We guide innovative and oftentimes pioneering companies, both emerging and established, through a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape at the state, national, and international levels. The regulatory team’s counsel is integrated closely with each client’s overall legal strategy and business objectives, on specific regulatory matters and as a component of a transaction or dispute. We also work with clients on regulatory strategic planning, including building and strengthening internal compliance programs, so they are well-positioned for healthy competition and growth in domestic and global markets.

Tax:

Fenwick’s tax group is consistently recognized for broad, deep, and current knowledge of technical tax rules, combined with practical solutions for clients. We have extensive experience in domestic and international tax planning, offering comprehensive advice for international operations and transactions and applying U.S. tax rules to cross-border transactions. Fenwick is also nationally recognized for successful tax dispute resolution and litigation. The tax group’s exciting and sophisticated practice stems from its client base, which represents every geographic area of the U.S., as well as a number of countries across the globe. The team, which has represented well over 50 Fortune 100 companies in major federal tax matters and 100 of the Fortune 500 companies, is recognized as a top tax practice for excellence in domestic and international tax work by Chambers USA and Chambers Global.

Global Network:

Fenwick handles significant cross-border legal and business issues for a wide range of technology and life sciences companies who operate internationally. Our lawyers have a deep understanding of the business, cultural, and legal aspects of cross-border matters to ensure our clients succeed globally. Our China Practice provides corporate, intellectual property, and tax counsel, and includes structuring and financing of China-based businesses, cross-border mergers, acquisitions, and the representation of U.S. companies investing in and doing business in China. The Israel Practice of Fenwick provides corporate, intellectual property, and tax guidance to Israeli companies and entrepreneurs, as well as international and U.S. companies investing or doing business in Israel, with a focus on the technology, life sciences and cleantech sectors. Fenwick’s India Practice counsels clients in the U.S. and India on cross-border legal issues that arise in a variety of contexts. Known for our extensive transactional and dispute experience and familiarity with the technology sectors and laws in both countries, clients in the U.S. and India rely on us for counsel on a wide range of corporate, intellectual property, litigation, labor and employment, dispute resolution, and cross-border tax-related matters.

Contacts:

Corporate Group: Alan C. Smith

Intellectual Property Group: Rajiv P. Patel

Litigation Group: Jedediah Wakefield

Tax Group: Larissa B. Neumann