Many thanks to the Glom crew for inviting me to guest blog, and to Gordon for his Wisconsin welcome. While my Badger status is a point of pride, there is a line on my resume that’s inspired more complicated feelings lately: I am a Wilson Sonsini alum. Seeing as how my former firm and its name partner, Larry Sonsini, have been front and center in the HP story, I figure should weigh in. I’ve talked about the headlines with my students, but what I keep coming back to is why Wilson Sonsini hasn’t been fired by HP—or, for that matter, by at least some of the corporations enmeshed in the backdating scandals in which my former firm again (cringe) appears to have been quite involved. The press seems to explain this phenomenon in murky, vaguely sinister terms: Larry Sonsini is a Silicon Valley “dealmaker” or “powerbroker,” consigliere to the Palo Alto powerful and seemingly immune to attack.
Here’s my take: what it comes down to, I’ve been telling my Bus. Org. class, is the relationship between an attorney and a corporation. (In fact, I tell them that all business organizations are about relationships, but that’s another post.) To me, Wilson Sonsini’s sticking power is impressive, especially since the easiest public relations tactic—and the move that’s almost instinctive to a risk-averse lawyer-type like me—would be to fire the law firm that advised you into the mess in the first place.
The fact that this hasn’t happened (yet) is a testament to Wilson Sonsini’s model. This model was very clearly pitched to us summers and young associates as: Represent young companies. Help them incorporate, grow and gain funding. Take them public. Continue to represent them as mature public companies. Often the model doesn’t work because the start-up flounders. When it succeeds, it can succeed spectacularly: viz., Apple, HP, Google. What’s more, it seems to engender loyalty the likes of which we don’t see much today, a loyalty the more remarkable because it seems in the case of HP to have institutional staying power even as CEOs come and go. Of course, that Wachtell Lipton model (represent gargantuan companies on colossal deals and make gobs of money) works, too…
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1. Posted by Adam Gershowitz on October 3, 2006 @ 14:39 | Permalink
Is another reason for HP's loyalty to Wilson Sonsini that the latter has placed an army of its former associates in in-house counsel positions at HP? With a heavy presence of former associates (and no replacement General Counsel in place yet) might it simply be too soon to see Sonsini get the boot? After all, at this point, who would be charged with the responsibility (or even the authority) to fire him?
2. Posted by Mike Guttentag on October 3, 2006 @ 15:47 | Permalink
Notwithstanding what is bouncing around the press, I also think it helps that Larry Sonsini is a decent, honest and smart attorney. I hired him to work on a deal I was running, and had nothing but a positive experience.
3. Posted by Tom T. on October 8, 2006 @ 0:18 | Permalink
Sorry I'm late to this thread. How does "Represent young companies" relate to H-P, which is much older than Wilson Sonsini?
4. Posted by nedu on October 8, 2006 @ 20:48 | Permalink
In 1957, according to HP's history:
HP becomes a publicly traded company. Its initial public offering is held November 6, 1957 for $16 per share.
According to Larry Sonsini's bio, almost a decade after Hewlett-Packard's IPO, the year that HP introduces the HP 2116A, Larry Sonsini graduates from law school.
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