Directions & Visitor InformationOverview
Arnold & Porter LLP's San Francisco office at 3 Embarcadero Center provides the firm's clients with sophisticated advice and representation, with particular emphasis on complex commercial litigation, securing and enforcing intellectual property rights, environmental compliance and litigation, and antitrust litigation. Our recent combination with Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin PC has grown the number of attorneys practicing in our San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices to more than 120 professionals. Our expanded capabilities allows us to now provide representation in matters relating to attorney liability, labor and employment and Private Client Services.
In addition, our lawyers regularly collaborate with their colleagues in other offices with experience in more than 30 legal disciplines as well as governmental and regulatory experience. Our client roster includes pharmaceutical and biotech companies, computer, electronics, software, and internet companies, banking, insurance and financial services institutions, FORTUNE 500 industrial, food, cosmetic, and consumer product companies, healthcare providers, hospitality companies, and entertainment and media companies.
Representative areas of the practice in our San Francisco office include:
Complex Commercial Litigation. Our litigation practice involves unfair competition/unfair business practices, contractual disputes, products liability, securities fraud, and business torts, with a particular emphasis on consumer class actions. We have additionally represented financial institutions, manufacturers, retailers, and service companies in a broad range of complex commercial disputes.
Corporate and Securities. Our Corporate and Securities practice provides premier services to a variety of corporate clients, handling matters from complex mergers and acquisitions involving multinational FORTUNE 500 companies to vital business transactions for rising mid-market companies and start-ups. We help clients meet their goals by executing both routine corporate matters and high-stakes transactions, representing issuers, underwriters, acquirers, targets, financial institutions, borrowers, governments, private equity and venture capital firms, and investment funds, among others.
Intellectual Property Prosecution and Litigation. Our intellectual property practice involves patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark litigation, patent and trademark prosecution, as well as counseling in relation to IP disputes. Our clients include hardware, software, information technology and biotech companies, as well as companies in more traditional industries for whom IP rights are of paramount importance in their branding and other competitive efforts. We look at securing IP rights and resolving IP disputes as important elements in our clients' overall business objectives.
Life Sciences. Our life sciences attorneys have a particular focus on patent prosecution, counseling, protection, and enforcement strategies, and IP transactions. We represent both emerging and established biotechnology companies in the US and internationally. We have a track record of assisting clients in the acquisition, licensing, and litigation of biotechnology, medical device, and pharmaceutical patents. Our legal experience in this area is paired with academic training in biology and immunology as well as practical, hands-on experience in addressing the myriad legal issues that impact the biotechnology field.
Environmental Compliance and Litigation. We maintain a robust environmental practice, with depth of experience in regulatory counseling, enforcement, and litigation matters. We assist clients in compliance with the wide range of California environmental, health, and safety statutes. One area of emphasis is cleanup and redevelopment of Brownfields sites, including at closed military bases. Another area of particular emphasis is litigation and counseling for manufacturers and retailers regarding California's toxics and labeling law, Proposition 65. Our attorneys have also handled cost-recovery actions, coordinated and represented joint defense groups, and addressed legislative and regulatory proceedings in the most heavily regulated industries in California.
Antitrust Litigation and Counseling. Our attorneys have gained an international reputation in the field of antitrust litigation and counseling. We offer a depth of issue and industry experience from regulatory inquiries and objections in Washington and Brussels to consumer and competitor claims in California that is exceptional among firms in the Bay Area.
International Arbitration. We have a highly active and extensive investment dispute and commercial arbitration practice. Our attorneys regularly serve as advocates, advisors, and arbitrators in disputes between sovereign governments and private investors, including disputes arising out of concession agreements and other state contracts, or under the terms of bilateral investment treaties and other international agreements. Our attorneys also represent clients in all varieties of commercial arbitrations derived from domestic and international transactions, including breach of contract and licensing disputes, intellectual property ownership disputes, political risk insurance claims, and shareholder disputes. Our team assists clients in the enforcement of arbitration agreements and arbitral awards, and in execution proceedings for clients in the United States and abroad. Our international arbitration practice is geographically diverse, extending to matters in Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Attorney Liability. Our attorney liability lawyers have a long history of defending attorneys in civil lawsuits and disciplinary proceedings. We have represented more than half of the 50 largest firms in California, as well as numerous small-and mid-sized law firms. Our lawyers have defended law firms in every imaginable context, not only in legal malpractice claims, but also in actions filed by non-clients, such as bankruptcy trustees, disappointed investors and opposing parties who sue for malicious prosecution. We have extensive experience in handling bankruptcy-related matters involving law firms -- claims for alleged legal malpractice, Jewel v. Boxer-type claims and even fraudulent transfer claims filed against lawyers who moved to new law firms. We are also frequently asked to step in to handle disqualification and sanctions motions due to our expertise in those areas.
Labor & Employment. We have handled virtually every type of employment case filed today, including those involving discrimination based on race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, and worker's compensation protection, as well as those alleging wrongful termination, state law torts, whistleblower claims, wage and hour or trade secret actions. We are also unique in our traditional labor law experience. While the percentage of management labor and employment attorneys who devote a large portion of their practice to handling traditional labor law matters has dwindled, the labor and employment lawyers at Arnold & Porter devote a significant part of our practice to traditional labor matters. Over the last 10 years, our partners have negotiated dozens of collective bargaining agreements and handled hundreds of labor arbitration hearings and related NLRB matters.
Private Client Services. Our Private Client Services group provides an interdisciplinary approach to addressing the complex needs of family business owners and individual clients. The group counsels clients on a wide variety of issues relating to estate planning, tax, real estate, family disputes, business organization and succession planning. We review the client's overall picture, from the protection of assets to issues of family harmony, and from philanthropic goals to the client's tolerance for complexity and risk in tax planning. We coordinate the members of the client's team of advisors, ensuring the client obtains answers vetted not just by us but by all relevant advisors. We furnish independent advice, deployed with tact and judgment, and with a long-term perspective.