PALO ALTO — The proposed merger last year of Orrick and Pillsbury would have created a firm with more than 600 partners. But when Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe chairman Mitchell Zuklie recently ticked through the factors that made the combination worth pursuing, he mentioned only one partner by name—and he mentioned him twice.
Jorge del Calvo, who’s been at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman since 1981, is the anchor of his firm’s corporate practice, its Valley office and, arguably, its claim to be a major player in the tech space. He has a $20 million book of business and since 2000, he has represented more tech companies in U.S. initial public offerings than anyone other than Fenwick & West’s Gordon Davidson: The two are essentially tied, according to IPO Vital Signs. Del Calvo’s client list lacks some of the flash of his Valley competitors: He didn’t bring to market Facebook, Twitter or Zynga—Fenwick, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Cooley did. But lesser-known names helped put Pillsbury just behind those firms for U.S. IPO volume in 2012, belying the stodgy reputation that still can cling to the 140-year-old firm. Del Calvo’s practice isn’t limited to IPOs—he advised SYNNEX on its $505 million buy of IBM’s customer-care business last fall. And he argues that Pillsbury has an edge over those Valley names because its tech practice has a global reach.
