Firm Profiles

Cooley may have gotten its start in San Francisco—back in 1920—but for generations of technology companies it has always been the quintessential Silicon Valley firm. Indeed, Cooley was one of the first firms to make Palo Alto a focal point for its work, setting up shop there in 1980 and growing it into its main office. Many a California start–up has seen Cooley guide it to market—and stock market (it handled the IPO for Qualcomm, among others). The firm also has a considerable East Coast presence, 120 lawyers in the Washington, D.C., area and another 75 in New York—complete with bankruptcy, tax, and commercial and white–collar litigation practices—thanks to a 2006 merger with Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman.

The combined firm—with more than 600 lawyers—is well known for its expertise in venture capital and private equity, life sciences and technology transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate securities. Clients have included Valley royalty: eBay, Google, Adobe Systems, Gilead Sciences, to name a few. The firm operates ten offices, typically in technology hot spots, and, like many of its Am Law 100 peers, is looking toward China for growth. It opened a Shanghai office, the firm’s first international outpost, in December 2011.

Yet Cooley’s track record hasn’t been unblemished. It struggled during the financial crisis, placing forty–sixth of 84 firms on The American Lawyer’s Recession Performance Index, which looked at how major law firms fared between 2007 and 2009. During that period, Cooley’s revenues suffered a compound annual growth rate of minus 9 percent. The firm also let go of attorneys and staff in two rounds of layoffs in 2009: 52 associates and special counsel, and well over 100 staff. Not surprisingly, Cooley’s corporate and transactional groups were hit hardest.

On noneconomic measures, Cooley earns above average—if not earth–shattering—scores. With minorities comprising 16 percent of its U.S. based lawyers, Cooley finished near the top quarter on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Diversity Scorecard. On pro bono work it ranked in the top third on our 2011 tally (lawyers put in an average of 54 hours of pro bono work). Associate satisfaction fared less well, with Cooley placing in the middle of the pack (sixth–fourth of 126 firms on our 2011 midlevels survey; sixty–seventh of 137 in 2010).

—Updated as of 1/1/12