While Dow Jones ranked firms by total number of deals, private equity and venture capital, V.C. deals tend to have smaller price tags. Counting only private equity work, the top 10 list is led by Latham & Watkins.
Larger firms with established East Coast practices, like Latham; Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker; and O’Melveny & Myers, scooped up a lot of the private equity work. More Silicon Valley-centered firms like Wilson Sonsini and Cooley Godward Kronish kept busy with hundreds of venture capital deals.
On the private equity side, deals often climbed into the billions and even tens of billions last year. One of the biggest was the buyout of Harrah’s Entertainment � a deal worth $27.8 billion. The casino giant hired Latham, capping a banner year for the firm’s private equity practice. Latham’s Kerman attributed the flurry of buyouts to a good economy, the success of private equity firms and debt availability being “as prevalent as it’s ever been.”
DLA Piper’s “middle and upper middle market” private equity practice has been developing over the past five years to rival more established venture capital practices, said Anthony Rickert, co-chairman of the firm’s private equity practice.
O’Melveny lawyers were also busy with private equity and venture capital deals. The firm finished fifth overall in deals done, completing 116 private equity deals and 249 venture deals.
“I don’t think most Valley firms can do both,” said Warren Lazarow, O’Melveny’s Silicon Valley managing partner. “They don’t have as big of a New York institutional client base as we have � I think we’re unique in that way.”
VENTURES AND GAINS
Valley firms far outstripped the nation in venture deals in 2006, as evidenced by Wilson Sonsini and Gunderson Dettmer leading the list. Cooley; Fenwick & West; and Heller Ehrman, whose corporate practices focus on startups and venture funds, made the top 15, with the vast majority of their deals in the venture category.
Having Funds
Trending Stories
More From ALM
With this subscription you will receive unlimited access to high quality, online, on-demand premium content from well-respected faculty in the legal industry. This is perfect for attorneys licensed in multiple jurisdictions or for attorneys that have fulfilled their CLE requirement but need to access resourceful information for their practice areas.
View Now
Our Team Account subscription service is for legal teams of four or more attorneys. Each attorney is granted unlimited access to high quality, on-demand premium content from well-respected faculty in the legal industry along with administrative access to easily manage CLE for the entire team.
View Now
Gain access to some of the most knowledgeable and experienced attorneys with our 2 bundle options! Our Compliance bundles are curated by CLE Counselors and include current legal topics and challenges within the industry. Our second option allows you to build your bundle and strategically select the content that pertains to your needs. Both options are priced the same.
View Now
Dynamically explore and compare data on law firms, companies, individual lawyers, and industry trends.
Law.com Compass includes access to our exclusive industry reports, combining the unmatched expertise of our analyst team with ALM’s deep bench of proprietary information to provide insights that can’t be found anywhere else.
Law.com Compass delivers you the full scope of information, from the rankings of the Am Law 200 and NLJ 500 to intricate details and comparisons of firms’ financials, staffing, clients, news and events.
April 25, 2024
Dubai Law firms & in-house legal departments with a presence in the middle east celebrate outstanding achievement within the profession. Learn More
April 29, 2024 - May 01, 2024
Aurora, CO The premier educational and networking event for employee benefits brokers and agents. Learn More
May 15, 2024
Philadelphia, PA The Legal Intelligencer honors lawyers leaving a mark on the legal community in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Learn More A large and well-established Tampa company is seeking a contracts administrator to support the company's in-house attorney and manage a wide... Apply Now › We are seeking an attorney to join our commercial finance practice in either our Stamford, Hartford or New Haven offices. Candidates should ... Apply Now › We are seeking an attorney to join our corporate and transactional practice. Candidates should have a minimum of 8 years of general corporat... Apply Now ›
04/15/2024
Connecticut Law Tribune MELICK & PORTER, LLP PROMOTES CONNECTICUT PARTNERS HOLLY ROGERS, STEVEN BANKS, and ALEXANDER AHRENS View Announcement › |
