Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati saw its gross revenue rise 5.6 percent in 2017, to $797 million, double the percentage growth compared to the year prior.

While revenue per lawyer and profits per partner both dipped in 2016, the two figures were up last year at the Palo Alto-based firm. Wilson Sonsini's revenue per lawyer climbed 6.2 percent, to $1.07 million, and profits per partner jumped 12.3 percent, to $2.21 million.

“It was driven by the fact that we had an excellent year in all practice areas, and across our client's sectors,” said managing partner Douglas Clark, who in 2012 was appointed as the firm's co-managing counsel with former corporate partner John “Jack” Sheridan, now at Latham & Watkins.

Clark said there was not a geographic location or practice that particularly stood out in terms of performance last year. Overall, Wilson Sonsini has a strong year in its core practices representing technology and life science clients. Clark attributed the firm's growth to investments it has made in 2016, including 52 hires and a new office in Boston.

“The year before was very much a year of investment for us, and we think a lot of those investments paid off in the year just ended,” Clark said.

Wilson Sonsini's head count was down by 0.5 percent in 2017, to 746. The firm, which is structured as a single-tier partnership, said it promoted nine lawyers to partner in 2016 and recently elected another 15 new partners, which became effective as of Feb. 1.

The firm made four lateral partner hires in 2017, including bringing aboard a year ago this month former Munger, Tolles & Olson corporate and securities partner Katherine Ku, who in January spoke with The Recorder about her experience clerking for recently retired federal appellate judge Alex Kozinski.

However, toward the end of last summer, Wilson Sonsini lost a number of prominent partners to Am Law 100 firms, including seven corporate partners who decamped to Cooley on the East Coast and the Bay Area. Michael Rubin, a former co-chair of Wilson Sonsini's privacy and data protection practice, moved to Latham in September, and a team of six intellectual property litigators left for Morrison & Foerster in June.

In the fall, Wilson Sonsini also shook up its leadership structure, tapping corporate partner Katharine “Katie” Martin to serve as chair of the board, a role in which she assumes the responsibility from Larry Sonsini, the firm's senior and founding partner. (Sonsini's son, Matthew Sonsini, who had returned to Wilson Sonsini in 2016, also left the firm last summer.)

Looking ahead, Clark said Wilson Sonsini will continue to grow in its core practices and remain a legal force in Silicon Valley. He expects to see more activity this year in venture financing, capital markets and M&A, carrying over from last year's strong momentum in the corporate space.

Wilson Sonsini was the winner of the capital markets category in The Recorder's 2017 Corporate Department of the Year awards for advising clients such as GoDaddy.com in complex follow-on and repurchase deals, Mulesoft Inc. in its initial public offering—a listing that yielded $1.4 million in legal fees and expenses and saw the firm snag a nearly $2.6 million stake in the enterprise software company—and Tesla Inc. in common stock and convertible senior note offerings.