A Silicon Valley law firm that counts Twitter and Dropbox as clients is launching a London office on Old Street in the heart of the Citys tech district, it announced today.

California's Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) is one of the leading tech law firms in the world.

Earlier this year it advised Dropbox on its $7bn (£5.3bn) initial public offering (IPO), it acted for Twitter on its 2013 IPO and it advised Linkedin when it was acquired by Microsoft for $26.2bn in 2016.

Read more: Dropbox float to value tech company at $7bn

It said that it was opening a London office to “provide US access and support to UK-based technology and life sciences companies” and to extend its practice into “one of the world's top technology markets”.

The firm has taken office space at 41 Old Street, in the heart of Londons tech sector, and will open on 1 August.

The office will be led by partner Daniel Glazer who has 20-years' experience advising European companies on US law.

Glazer said: "There's no better place to launch a tech or life sciences business than in the UK, and no better place to expand to than the US. I am proud and honoured to continue providing US support to the UK and the wider European technology and life sciences communities from WSGR's Old Street base in London— the most exciting and progressive technology and start-up market in Europe."

Read more: Salesforce commits to $2.5bn UK investment ahead of No 10 tech roundtable

London's deputy mayor for business Rajesh Agrawal said: “We welcome this investment into London, which is further proof London is a leading global centre for international technology and legal firms."

The firm had a revenue of $797m last year according to the American Lawyer magazine, with profit per partner standing at $2.21m.

WSGRs move follows that of rival Silicon Valley firm Cooley which launched in London in 2015 with the hire of 20 partners from Edwards Wildman and Morrison & Foerster. Last year the firms London office generated $57.5m in revenue.

Original Article

[contf] [contfnew]

CityAM

[contfnewc] [contfnewc]