Debevoise & Plimpton LLP opened its San Francisco office today, bringing on-the-ground corporate and litigation capabilities to the firm’s growing Bay Area and West Coast client base. With a special focus on technology companies and the private investment firms that underpin the region’s influence in the global economy, the new office will help Debevoise serve West Coast clients while operating as a natural extension of the firm’s global office network.
For several years, Debevoise has provided strategic legal services to some of the West Coast’s leading companies and investment firms including Lightspeed Venture Partners, PayPal, Ripple, Robinhood, TPG and Twitter, among others.
Initially led by five partners who relocated or will spend their time between offices, the San Francisco office covers areas including white collar and regulatory defense, mergers and acquisitions, private equity fund formation, data strategy and security, and intellectual property litigation. The partners are supported by a dynamic group of associates who are relocating to San Francisco. The San Francisco office is the firm’s third U.S. office and tenth globally.
“We have been considering an office in San Francisco for some time, given our growing concentration of clients in the region, and spent significant time consulting with our clients as we determined our approach,” said Michael Blair, Presiding Partner. “We decided that opening a local office with well-established Debevoise partners, and adding local talent over time, presents a tremendous opportunity to deepen our existing client relationships and grow new ones.”
Michael Diz, Co-Chair of Debevoise’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice and a Co-Managing Partner of the San Francisco office, noted, “As longtime strategic counselors to a notable set of clients in the region – innovators, thinkers and entrepreneurs – we bring a collaborative, commercial and practical approach to their most complex matters. Now with a physical presence in San Francisco, we will be able to partner with clients even more closely to identify opportunities, anticipate challenges and help them achieve their business objectives.”
Julie Riewe, a partner in the firm’s White Collar and Regulatory Defense Group, who joined the firm from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Enforcement Division, added “Our deep bench of former senior Federal regulators and prosecutors is critical for our clients, as we anticipate increased regulatory scrutiny and investigations from the new administration. This new office will assist us as we counsel our West Coast client base on these matters.”
The new office is located at 650 California Street, in the heart of the city’s Financial District.