Orrick's office in Menlo Park.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has hired William Hughes, a corporate partner at Fenwick & West in San Francisco who specializes in initial public offerings and follow-on offerings for the technology industry.

Hughes is the latest in a series of high-profile departures from Fenwick & West, which within the past month has watched corporate partners R. Gregory Roussel and Jeffrey Vetter decamp for Latham & Watkins and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, respectively.

“We have been wanting to add to our Bay Area technology IPO team for some time, and it has been a top priority for us,” said Orrick chairman Mitchell Zuklie. “And the reason for that is we've got a really strong portfolio of late-stage tech companies that want to go public. We also really like that Bill is not only a skilled IPO and public company lawyer generally, he has also done a lot of impressive work for companies like Cisco and Symantec.”

Hughes joins Orrick's San Francisco office as co-head of the firm's capital markets practice, a role he holds along with partner Christopher Austin, who joined Orrick from Goodwin Procter in 2014. During his time at Fenwick & West, Hughes focused his practice on securities issuance, counseling listed companies and advising clients on securities law compliance.

Fenwick & West hired Hughes as an associate in 1998 and promoted him to partner a decade later. During his two decades at the firm, Hughes handled a number of notable IPO deals and other registered offerings. This summer he and Vetter led a team of Fenwick & West lawyers advising Sonos Inc. on an IPO that raised $83.3 million for the wireless speaker company and generated $1.35 million in legal fees and expenses for the firm, according to securities filings.

Other companies that Hughes has helped take public include semiconductor maker Adesto Technologies Corp., which raised $25 million through a late 2015 IPO that securities filings show yielded $1.3 million in legal fees and expenses for Fenwick & West, as well as computer software company Alteryx Inc. on a $126 million float last year that resulted in $1.4 million in legal fees and expenses for the firm, according to securities filings.

Hughes has also represented Cisco Systems Inc. and Symantec Corp. in various notes offerings that have collectively raised more than $25 billion for the two technology titans.

“Bill is a tremendous addition to our team, counseling late-stage tech clients as they complete venture financings and prepare to go public,” said a statement from John Bautista, co-head of Orrick's emerging companies group and a member of the firm's board of directors.

Hughes is the 12th technology-focused partner and 34th partner overall to join Orrick this year.

In March, Orrick added a large group of public finance lawyers in Texas from Andrews Kurth as the latter prepared to merge with Hunton & Williams. In May, Orrick welcomed aboard Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner Jared Bobrow as co-chair of its global intellectual property practice in Silicon Valley. Earlier this year, Orrick added technology companies partner Ellen Ehrenpreis from her own boutique in Palo Alto.

In June, Orrick hired technology companies group partner Geoff Willard from Cooley and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft antitrust partner Amy Ray in Washington, D.C., while also bringing on Durie Tangri founding partner Clement Roberts for its patent litigation group in San Francisco. The lateral additions continued into July when Orrick picked up Vincenzo Paparo, a former co-head of the finance practice at Proskauer Rose in New York, as a partner.

And in late August, Orrick raided McDermott Will & Emery for litigation partner Will Stute in the nation's capital, where he serves as national coordinating counsel for the National Collegiate Athletic Association in concussion litigation.

In a statement, Fenwick & West corporate chair and Seattle office co-founding partner Alan C. Smith praised Hughes for his contributions to the Mountain View-based firm.

“Bill was a valued colleague and we wish him well in his new endeavor. Lateral movement in the legal market is up and we are not immune from that reality. We are, however, incredibly privileged to work with outstanding clients who are leading global innovators and continue to trust Fenwick with their most critical matters,“ Smith said. “Due to their ongoing support and growth, we are having another fantastic year, one of the best years in the history of the firm.“

Smith noted that Fenwick & West has brought aboard several lateral partners this year, while also “maintaining both our culture and our strategic focus on technology and life sciences. We are heavily sought out by new clients fueling our optimistic outlook.”

Fenwick & West, which saw its financial performance rebound in 2017, has been particularly busy expanding on the East Coast. The firm welcomed aboard six intellectual property partners from White & Case in late June for its relatively new office in New York, where Fenwick & West expanded again in July by hiring former Davis & Gilbert technology transactions partner Vejay Lalla.

James Evans, a corporate partner at Fenwick & West in Seattle, has been named the new co-chair of its securities subpractice, a role he holds with current partner Robert Freedman, who works out of San Francisco and Boise, Idaho. The American Lawyer reported two years ago that Fenwick & West allows its lawyers to work out of various locales across the country, even in regions where the firm does not officially have an office.

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