No major metropolitan area in the United States is as ripe for the legal profession as the San Francisco Bay Area. In fact, in 2017, according to a report by Citi Private Bank, law firms based in the Bay Area led the nation in revenue growth (up 7.2 percent) and demand growth (up 4.8 percent, far above the national average). More than 70 of the AmLaw100 firms have an office here and are competing for talent, for good reason. The Bay Area is the epicenter of global growth in technology. As technology-driven companies and their investors become established, mature, diversify and globalize, they generate an enormous amount of legal work across practices.

There have been success stories of out-of-town firms breaking into this exclusive club and gaining significant market share, but doing so requires a deep understanding of the market and the ability to compete with top indigenous law firms that have established relationships with technology companies, high profile serial entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The most obvious example of this is Goodwin Procter, a Boston-based law firm that identified and attracted lateral corporate partners primarily from Gunderson and Wilson Sonsini, and then grew from there to establish itself as a recognized and serious player among the law firms servicing the top emerging companies and funds. Los Angeles-based Latham & Watkins also built an impressive and robust corporate practice in the Bay Area by attracting top laterals from Cooley, Wilson Sonsini and others over the years. Other firms have developed successful, vibrant offices in the Bay Area, not by following the emerging companies and venture blueprint, but by leveraging other platform strengths that attract company clients here, such as cross-border M&A, capital markets, private equity, regulatory and litigation/trial work.

Keys to Lateral Growth in Silicon Valley—Know Your Audience