Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has brought on Niki Fang, a former Fenwick & West corporate associate who specializes in initial public offerings and advising late-stage companies, as the firm gears up for the massive market debuts of Silicon Valley companies in 2019.

Fang, who joined Fenwick & West in 2010 from Davis Polk & Wardwell, is the second Fenwick & West attorney Orrick has recently added to its Bay Area team. In September, the 940-lawyer firm hired William Hughes, a long-time corporate partner at Fenwick & West, to co-head its capital markets practice.

Fang has reunited with Hughes as a tech capital markets partner in Orrick's San Francisco office. In the firm's Jan. 2 announcement, Fang said she was attracted to Orrick because the firm “has an amazing pipeline of late-stage clients” and “is full of great people.”

“I am really excited about growing my practice on this innovative and collaborative platform,” she said.

In his statement welcoming Fang, Hughes added, “[Fang] brings a wealth of experience as an adviser on IPOs and other public and private company securities transactions and is sought after by her clients.”

Fang focuses her practice on advising technology and life sciences companies. She and Hughes were both on the deal team that took wireless speaker Sonos public this past summer, reaping at least $1.35 million in legal fees and expenses for Fenwick & West.

During her eight-year stint at Fenwick & West, Fang has also advised on the IPOs for Castlight Health, Cloudera and Workday, follow-on offerings for Redfin, Cloudera and Chegg, and represented GoPro, ServiceNow and Workday on their debt offerings.

“Niki is a rising star and a great addition to our team of tech sector IPO advisers,” said a statement from Chris Austin, co-head of Orrick's capital markets practice. “She couldn't come at a better time, with the pipeline of activities our clients have planned.”

Orrick said it counsels more than 1,800 private tech companies and 10 of the Fortune 25 global tech companies. In addition to hiring Fang and Hughes from Fenwick & West, Orrick's tech sector team has also brought on Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner Jared Bobrow, Ellen Ehrenpreis from her own practice in Silicon Valley, and added Geoff Willard from Cooley and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft antitrust partner Amy Ray in Washington, D.C.

Fenwick said its technology and life sciences company clients have helped the firm achieve its strongest financials to date.

“Niki was a solid associate and we wish her well. We have a strong pipeline of work coming out of an exceptional year,” a firm spokeswoman said in a statement. “In fact 2018 was our best year ever during which we experienced double-digit growth in demand and in revenue due to our amazing and committed client base of innovative technology and life sciences companies. As is true for every law firm, we experience some turnover, but we are fortunate to experience far less than average in the broader legal market.”

The firm did see some turnover in the summer when over six weeks in August and September a handful of lawyers left in addition to Hughes. Veteran technology industry dealmaker R. Gregory Roussel decamped for Latham & Watkins in Silicon Valley, while Jeffrey Vetter, a former co-chair of Fenwick & West's corporate finance and securities group, joined rival Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian. And Polsinelli picked up former Fenwick & West intellectual property partner Darren Donnelly in Palo Alto. Cooley has brought on Blake Martell as a partner in its compensation and benefits practice.