UK Law Firm Opens San Francisco Office

We gleaned this from the Lawyer’s latest editorial ..interesting move by Withers

 

Withers heads to San Francisco to fulfil West Coast ambitions

Think of technology firms, and it’s probably the likes of Olswang, Osborne Clarke, Taylor Wessing or Bird & Bird that spring to mind.

Now there’s one more seeking to claim a slice of the lucrative tech pie. And it’s probably not one that you were expecting.

Withers, best known for its wealth planning work, is venturing into the sector – recently helping new government-funded tech industry body Innovate Finance to get off the ground.

As part of the push, the firm has launched an office in San Francisco, primarily with the intention of advising high net worth individuals on the West Coast. It’s also hoping to get its hands on deals for commercial clients, in particular those with business interests spanning the US and Asia Pacific.

It’s a logical move given that the US has accounted for 61 per cent of tech deals so far in 2014, according to Thomson Reuters. And there’s certainly money to be made by UK firms that are able to forge relationships with California’s budding tech giants.

Just look at Osborne Clarke. The firm won a key role on the sale of of Dr Dre’s Beats music platform to Apple for $3bn, thanks to a relationship born in its Silicon Valley office.