Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati - The Inside View

Are you familiar with the old adage ‘bigger isn’t always better?’ As a big firm with an even bigger reputation amongst the biggest players in the tech and life sciences space, quite the contrary is true for Wilson Sonsini. Though today it has 14 offices stateside and another five internationally, the firm’s history has seen it spend over 60 years in Silicon Valley, the beating heart of the tech world, which has allowed the firm to have a helping hand in the creation of some of the most recognizable names in the market. Ever heard of a little tech company named after a fruit? Here’s a hint: we’re not thinking of bananas, but you know what is bananas? The firm’s long list of Chambers USA accolades. Wilson Sonsini stands top of the podium for much of its work across the States, receiving recognition in California for its success in capital markets, securities litigation, venture capital, and corporate/M&A. The praise doesn’t stop there either, with the firm also given nods for its expertise in antitrust, life sciences and technology, and for its work with startups and emerging companies.

“The culture seemed like somewhere I could thrive because they have an emphasis on mentorship and learning.”

Unsurprisingly, junior associates cited the firm’s clients as a big draw for them when choosing where to launch their legal careers. With the chance to work with “cutting edge startups” and star-studded tech and life sciences clientele in “an interesting and developing body of law,” rookies were keen to sink their teeth into all that Wilson Sonsini has to offer. The work was only one part of it though, newbies caveated, stating that “the culture seemed like somewhere I could thrive because they have an emphasis on mentorship and learning.” This magic combination of quality work and culture creates a winning formula that attracts talent from all corners of the country, though the associates on our list were mainly located in Wilson Sonsini’s Palo Alto and San Francisco offices. Most of the rest were based between Washington DC, Boston, San Diego and Seattle.

Strategy & Future

Doug Clark, managing partner at Wilson Sonsini, explains that the firm is getting involved in a lot of exciting work and “continuing to represent the most disruptive tech companies, including a number of clients in AI and companies that are changing the footprint of healthcare in the world.”  The firm clearly prides itself on its AI focus and expertise, with Clark sharing further, “We’re excited to be well-positioned with most successful AI companies to do work for them. Internally, we’re closely studying how AI can benefit us and beginning to deploy AI in terms of back-office efficiency, which is important.”

Clark also tells us that the firm is looking forward to even more growth both within the States and beyond. “We’ve had the growth we’ve wanted in London and focused on expanding the M&A-related partnership and practice,” Clark nods, “In LA, we continue to grow our world-class litigation team in the downtown and Century City offices.” In Boston, the “associate base has grown over the past year, and we look forward to a vibrant return in the client market in Boston to fuel additional growth,” Clark adds.

Read the full interview with Doug Clark under the ‘Get Hired’ tab.

The Work

There’s some variety in the way that work is allocated at Wilson Sonsini, though it’s largely done through a free market system. Newbies can take advantage of some formal staffing when they’re first getting started, but they told us that oftentimes, senior associates “will work with you once on something and come back to ask you for help again. That’s how I’ve gotten 90% of my work so far, and the other 10% is from people who reach out because they want to work with everyone.” Interviewees acknowledged that while “you do have to be entrepreneurial to get staffed on the assignments you want,” it’s easy to get chatting to people to show an interest in incoming work or an area that you’re passionate about.

Corporatenewbies at the firm’s Palo Alto and San Francisco offices are part of the firm’s ‘Launch’ program where “you’re not automatically assigned to one area, so you get the chance to work with any of the firm’s corporate groups!” The groups in question include capital markets, emerging companies and energy and solutions, and at the end of the two-year rotational program, associates are matched to a group. As a result, rookies told us that they’d been involved in a variety of work including formations, dissolutions, early- and late-stage financing, as well as M&A on the investor, buyer and acquisition sides. Junior responsibility is largely dependent on the size of the deal; this source explained, “On bigger deals – like a unicorn deal – you’re doing typical junior work like ancillaries, signature pages and more of the project management side in the background.” It’s not all so straightforward though, with more responsibility available on smaller deals, as this interviewee enthused, “I’ve had the opportunity to run the whole deal on a Series A financing!”

Corporate clients: Alteryx, Roblox, Hawaiian Airlines. Represented Rover Group amidst its all-cash acquisition by Blackstone worth $2.3 billion.

“There’s no part of the matter on the junior side that I don’t touch…”

Junior litigators appreciate the plethora of matters available to them, and an insider was keen to tell us that they’d been able to do “a little bit of everything, which has been awesome!” From government investigations to internal investigations started by a corporation, with both federal and state actions on the side, they were also proud to talk about their responsibilities within the group. Another rookie beamed, “There’s no part of the matter on the junior side that I don’t touch, with the obvious exception of appearing in court or giving partner-level advice to the client.” Sources were all happy with this and felt that they could ask for more too, as the firm “fully maximizes how associates are used.” This interviewee continued, “If we feel comfortable trying whatever it is, they’re completely open to letting us try.”

Litigation clients: Google, The Art Institute of Chicago, Immunity Bio. Defended Starbucks in Washington federal court in a shareholder derivative suit contending that Starbucks adopted diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives which allegedly promoted ‘active’ reverse racial discrimination.

In the firm’s patents & innovations group, associates were content with their exposure to different types of work opportunities through working with clients of varying sizes, “starting from the little firms all the way up to IPO.” Insiders told us that patent prosecution, strategy, client meetings, working with investors and due diligence are on the table; we also heard that responsibility here steadily increases for juniors. “The first year is mainly patent prosecution, due diligence, drafting applications to operate research,” one helpfully listed. “Second year is more managing the docket and supervising the work of the patent agents in the group. So, it’s less drafting applications and more seeing the docket and reviewing work.” For reference: the group has patent agents working within it who usually have PhDs but are not qualified attorneys, so it’s the responsibility of juniors to review their work and take the wheel from there.

Patent & innovations clients: Kinematics, Novo Holdings, MBX Biosciences. Advised General Atlantic on IP matters related to Verdiva Bio’s formation and $410 million Series A.

Career Development

Discussing career development with associates at Wilson Sonsini, we heard that each person is assigned a career development guide with whom they can discuss their career goals, any feedback they receive on their work, and what they want to accomplish while at the firm. Sources were also pleased to share that they felt well-informed when it came to the partner track, with one recalling that “we had an associate committee presentation about what’s taken into consideration when you’re up for partnership, just to give you a general lay of the land from as early as the third year.” The most junior at the firm felt that others were keen to help them progress, and that senior associates and partners alike ensure that newbies can “get involved in every part of a matter.” Interviewees also spoke of being able to “find the people who are going to be super involved in your development in a real way” by speaking with and getting support from role models at the firm.

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: 1,950 target

Wilson Sonsini associates have a 1,950-hour billable requirement, but this includes time for activities outside of traditionally billable work; for example, the first 40 hours of an associate’s vacation time counts! With up to 50 hours a year to shadow other attorneys, all pro bono hours are counted as billable, and “they also give a 100-hour billable hour allowance for firm citizenship on any firm committees, writing, researching, and recruiting.” All in all, our interviewees thought this was an achievable target but did acknowledge that it is usually easier to hit in litigation than corporate due to the market-dependent nature of transactional work.

“…I never have to log on to my laptop again after I close it at the end of the day!”

We heard that working hours are standard too, with one source sharing that there had been “only a handful of days I’ve had to work past 8 or 9pm,” and “there’s usually some advanced notice; people are pretty apologetic.” While busy days are bound to happen, one insider was happy to relay that “most of the time, I never have to log on to my laptop again after I close it at the end of the day!” As for compensation, the firm operates on a lockstep system and pays its associates the current market rate. Of this, one commented, “I’d say our firm isn’t typically an early adapter of the increases in the pay scale but have pretty much always matched the salary increase once a good number of firms do.”

Culture

The words ‘collegial’ and ‘friendly’ are ones that sometimes make us groan here at Chambers Associate. Luckily, Wilson Sonsini’s juniors were a little more detailed with their language: “It’s very community-focused,” one expressed, “and it’s not very hierarchical. There’s some superiority, but it doesn’t ever feel that way as far as the firm itself trying to enforce those norms.” While the firm – like any – can be a high-stress environment according to our sources, an insider assured us, “Being in any law firm will be a high-pressure situation. With regards to how people treat you as a person, I think the culture is amazing!” There’s not much tolerance for people who aren’t willing to match the vibe either: “It’s very easy to work with people you actually want to work with,” an interviewee explained, “and any people who aren’t so nice usually get pushed out pretty quickly.” Although it was noted that everyone works in a slightly different way, this was only seen as a positive by those we spoke to, because it means that “as a junior associate, you get the benefit of trying out all those different styles to develop your own over time.”

Wilson Sonsini is recognized as a Strong Performer for Quality of Life in our 2025 survey.

Pro Bono

With an unlimited billable pro bono allowance, it was clear to those at the firm that pro bono is rated very highly and certainly made a priority. “I know for a lot of my junior colleagues, if they don’t have enough client work, they’ll do a significant amount of pro bono,” an associate shared. “It’s not frowned upon and is treated the same way as any other assignments.” Juniors also commented on how helpful pro bono work is for their career development, as they can often take on more responsibility and get involved in different types of matters depending on their interests. “There are lots of opportunities to do really meaningful pro bono work on the litigation side with immigration and civil cases,” reflected one insider, “but also on the corporate side with helping non-profit organizations.” For example, attorneys at the firm recently partnered with the ACLU of Louisiana to resolve a lawsuit alleging discriminatory policing practice in the state.

Pro bono hours  

• For all US attorneys: 72,310
• Average per US attorney: 77

Wilson Sonsini is recognized as a Strong Performer for Pro Bono in our 2025 survey.

Inclusion

“In the spaces I’m in, I always feel included.”

Despite some murmurs about issues retaining women after their third year at the firm, sources were clear that the firm makes great efforts to be inclusive, with one noting that “in the spaces I’m in, I always feel included. I don’t feel like an outsider at all.” Wilson Sonsini hosts celebrations for occasions celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage, Latin heritage and Black History Month amongst others. One of the firm’s affinity groups, Women of Wilson, was mentioned by several of our interviewees, with some of the associates we spoke to preparing to attend the firm’s annual summit for all women at the firm! Introduced in 2021, WoW works to support women at the firm by hosting regular events and providing mentorship opportunities.

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus 

OCI applicants interviewed: 84

Interviewees outside OCI: 291

Given Wilson Sonsini’s strategic focus, it’ll come as no surprise that hiring partners look for those with “a strong desire to work with technology, life sciences and other growth companies,” the firm tells us. The firm participates in OCI at “the leading law schools” as well as recruiting through resume drops and welcomes direct applications from qualified candidates nationwide. Interviews are conducted by partners who are on the hiring committee or are alumni of the school. A hiring partner adds: “Given our extensive work for technology, life sciences, renewable energy, and other growth companies at all stages of development, we are particularly interested in candidates who want to work for those companies. We are also interested in candidates who have the requisite scientific expertise for one of our intellectual property practices.” To prepare, our hiring partner source recommends candidates “know which practices and offices are hiring through the summer program. Read the bio of the attorney you are meeting on campus in advance.” 

In 2023, Wilson Sonsini first offered a new early interview option for summer associate positions — the Accelerated Consideration for Employment, or “ACE” Program. Think of this as something akin to Early Action applications for college — an opportunity for applicants to show serious interest in Wilson Sonsini and get a decision from the firm on a much earlier timeline. For applicants who have done their research and know that they want to be at Wilson Sonsini, in a specific practice group, and in a specific office, this program offers an opportunity to begin the application process earlier and move through more quickly. By applying through ACE, applicants are indicating interest and intent above and beyond that of many general pool applicants and will stand out because of it. The firm's aim is to simplify this process for candidates so that they can get back to making the most out of their law school experiences. 

The 2025 ACE opens April 1 and closes on May 17, with the goal to match candidates with their preferred office and practice.. Visit the firm's job openings page and use the “Summer Associate – ACE @ Wilson” posting to apply. The firm will make information available each year at careers.wsgr.com. The firm’s general applications open on May 18, 2025.

Top tips for this stage: 

"Be prepared to explain why you are interested in our firm, in working with our innovative and distinctive client base, and ideally in one or more of our practices." – a Wilson Sonsini hiring partner 

“A candidate who’s applying to Wilson Sonsini can really do one thing in my mind that will set them apart from other applicants, which is to show real enthusiasm and interest in doing well. I always say a young lawyer may make mistakes. A young lawyer may make errors. A young lawyer may not know this or that, or the other case. I can teach all of those things. But the one thing I cannot teach is that sense of enthusiasm and desire to do well. If you’re applying to Wilson Sonsini and you really want to stand out from the rest, the thing you can do to really project that ineffable quality that I’ve described is to show how much you care about your work.” – a Wilson Sonsini hiring partner

Callbacks 

Applicants invited to second stage interview: 374

During callbacks, interviewees will find themselves in an average of five virtual one-on-one interviews with a break in the middle. . Typically, interviews last 30 minutes. At this stage, interviewers “tend to focus on questions that relate to past experience and demonstrated behaviors. We ask behavioral-based questions in an effort to understand the way candidates think and react to situations that frequently occur in the course of cases, deals, and other matters.” Callback interviewers tend to leave time for candidates to ask questions about the interviewer’s practice, experience at the firm, and other topics, so be prepared with good questions. Once students receive an offer, they can visit one of Wilson Sonsini’s 13 US offices and ask additional questions to help make the best decision about your future.

Top tips for this stage: 

"Be yourself. We look for candidates who are genuine about their interests and desires. We like to see passion and enthusiasm about working at our firm and show that you have a solid understanding of what we do and the clients we serve."– a Wilson Sonsini hiring partner 

Summer program 

Offers: 157

Acceptances: 75

Our hiring partner source tells us that Wilson’s summer program “incorporates many of the things important to our culture, including challenging and varied assignments, direct working relationships with our innovative clients, meeting a wide range of attorneys, and exciting social activities.” There’s no formal rotation process, and it’s on summer associates to choose which area they work in. Our source adds: “All summer associates are invited to participate in a week-long Summer Associate Academy that takes place early in the summer. The Academy includes learning sessions, fun activities, and networking opportunities.” To make the most of the program, our source advises candidates to “get to know the attorneys, the client base, and the work. We give summer associates real work for innovative companies – it’s a great opportunity!” While most summers return to the same practice area they focused on during their summer, those who want to work in a different area have their requests “reviewed and considered on a case-by-case basis.” 

Top tips for this stage: 

"Work hard, show the desire to learn and have a great attitude. Get to know the attorneys, the client base, and the work. We give summer associates real work for innovative companies – it’s a great opportunity!" – a Wilson Sonsini hiring partner 

And finally... 

"Work hard during law school and get involved on campus. Research our firm’s practices and clients, and get to know our attorneys when they visit campus for presentations, receptions and other events." – a Wilson Sonsini hiring partner

Interview with Doug Clark, Managing Partner

Commercial strategy, market position and trends

Chambers Associate: How would you define your firm’s current position and identity in the legal market? What differentiates your firm from your peer firms in the market?

Doug Clark: Our focus is on representing tech and life sciences companies, with a real emphasis on the enterprise. That continues to be our brand in the market and our focus, so we’re continuing to represent the most disruptive tech companies including a number of clients in AI and companies that are changing the footprint of healthcare in the world. That’s what drives us. From year to year, or month to month, the tactic underlying that strategy may change, but that’s our focus.

CA: Have there been any developments at the firm over the past year that you’d like law students to know about?

Clark: Our focus is as I described it. We also provide some very high-end services based on forged expertise representing tech and life sciences companies but exported to other industries. We have a very, very fine litigation department that can do company cases irrespective of geography or subject matter or type of company, and that’s been a reality. It’s been over the last five years we’ve developed that, and we continue to build on that this year, organically and laterally. We’ve promoted some excellent litigation colleagues to partner, and excellent corporate partners and others as well. We continue to strengthen our litigation and regulatory work too, but also the company work. You can come to Wilson Sonsini and do something other than corporate law, but corporate law’s good here too.

CA: Are there any domestic or international events/trends that are affecting any of the firm’s practices at the moment? Are there any trends that you think are affecting the business of law firms more generally, and how is that playing out with your firm?

Clark: The last three years have been a tepid transactional environment for the three core practices that we do, so venture financing, while picking up very recently, has been slow for the last few years, and the same with capital markets. That work has been very challenged, there have been very few IPOs relative to historical trends, and M&A was impacted by strident regulatory approaches here and abroad, including the EU and the UK, so that combination of factors has slowed the growth of the corporate practice, but we look forward to a different and better transactional environment next year. But I think I said the same thing last year too. I think we have our geographic strategies that are going strong. We’re in all the right places for our industries in the US, and proud of what we’re growing on the corporate and emerging markets side, and the M&A side in London as well.

CA: What is your firm’s commercial strategy focusing on, and how do you expect the next year to unfold?

Clark: I think especially in light of what we hope will be a better transactional environment, our yearslong strategy of using that practice as a base to not just thrive, but bringing other practices into a healthy environment will kick in and that really is the engine of growth at our firm. We’re excited at that prospect. Other groups such as IP, regulatory and litigation have their own client bases, but it’d be nice to have the fly-wheel effect of a busier transactional practice.

CA: Last year you mentioned growth in LA, London and Boston. How is that going, and should we expect any more growth from the firm?

Clark: We’ve had the growth we’ve wanted in London and focused on expanding the M&A-related partnership and practice in London since our tech companies in particular are beginning to exit in the UK and we’ve represented more than our fair share of existing private tech companies in the London market. It’s because of that M&A talent and infrastructure we’ve built that we’re able to do that. In London, we executed well on our growth strategy. In LA, we continue to grow our world-class litigation team in the downtown and Century City offices. LA’s a place where law firms tend to have two offices because it’s hard to get around. The associate base in Boston has grown over the past year, and we look forward to a vibrant return in the client market in Boston to fuel additional growth.

CA: Last year you told us that AI was a focus of the firm, is that still something you’re concentrating on, and do you have any updates in relation to that space?

Clark: We look at AI in two primary ways at the firm. One is representing great companies that are developing platform AI technology, and we continue to do that. We’re excited to be well-positioned with the most successful AI companies to do legal work for them. Internally, we’re closely studying how AI can benefit us and beginning to deploy AI in terms of back-office efficiency which is important, and it’s a strong use case for AI and, where appropriate, for practice efficiency on the client side. Our focus is very much on data governance to make sure client confidentiality is first and foremost in any application of AI, and we’ll continue to be very, very focused on that.

Inside the Firm

CA: How is the firm evolving to accommodate the needs/expectations of the next generation of lawyers?

Clark: It’s been an interesting several years when it comes to that question because of the pandemic obviously, and the adjustment after that. That generation of lawyers, the newest generation of lawyers, was disproportionately affected by the pandemic in terms of how they went through law school and acclimated to a work environment, so we continue our focus on making our workplace, both physical and virtual, as strong as possible, and connecting it to the culture of the firm. We think that great training can lead to the success of all generations of the firm and create interactions in the office and on screen which can help as well. We’re refining our approach with every passing month but connections in the workplace are vital and it’s an important part of our culture, it buttresses fairness and work allocation and life at the firm, so that’s the important thing we can do for the next generation of lawyers – refine training, staffing, and apply the best of our culture to the environment that they’re in.

CA: What’s the firm’s approach to bolstering diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Clark: At every level of the law firm, whether it’s recruiting or career development, staffing matters or acquiring practice groups, we focus on supporting a diverse workplace and ensuring that within that objective we create strong affinity groups and training and mentoring throughout the process. I’ll give you a couple of recent examples. We hosted a 1L Diversity Summit which was a day-long event for law students from diverse communities and we had nearly three hundred attendees. Just assisting that cohort across a number of law schools is part of our culture and how we bolster diversity at the firm and in the industry. In late 2024, we had a Women’s Leadership Summit where all our women attorneys were invited to San Francisco for a day and a half of interaction, some trainings, and certainly a lot of mentoring and other activities. Lawyers from across the firm joined parts of it virtually. Investing in gender balance in that way is a critical part of our overall approach to diversity. We think about these things when we staff firm committees, elect leaders, and staff leadership progression, as all good organizations do.

The Legal Profession

CA: How do you predict the legal profession will change in the next five years? Are there any particular challenges the industry is facing?

Clark: The biggest challenge, or opportunity, will be the implementation of advantage tech tools like generative AI, figuring out how to use it for our clients’ benefit and figuring out the leverage on that. There will be some legal tasks that can be successfully done by the application of generative AI but by no means all; judgement and complex financing and the experience will be irreplaceable, and so will trying a case or arguing it in front of an appellate court. There are things that lawyers will continue to be absolutely at the heart of and that will be barely impacted by AI. We’re all going to have to sort out the impact of AI on the efficiency of back offices; some tasks people don’t want to do that much anyway, and the use of generative AI can help. Our leverage model over time is going to change and I think the importance of getting that strategic work for clients will be heightened, as will the competition for those clients, and that’s something that isn’t changing.

The Fun Bit

CA: What was the first car you owned?

Clark: A 1968 Volkswagen Beetle. I got that car in 1984, so it was an old car at the time. I owned it for a year and then didn’t own a car again until I was over 30 because I lived in Chicago and New York so there was no point having a car there. Then I became a Californian and I’ve had a car every day since.

CA: What memory/moment has stuck with you from law school?

Clark: There’s not a specific one that comes to mind, but frankly just hanging out with a really brilliant set of men and women. It was a great experience for me, and formative. I’ve been lucky to keep in touch with a number of classmates and two of them are partners at the firm which is a lot of fun actually. When I think of law school, I’m creating new memories with law school friends all the time.

CA: Which actor/actress would you want to play you in a biopic about your life?

Clark: I have to be realistic on that front and not aim for the stars in terms of charisma or appearance. I think I’m living in the sort of John Malkovich zone basically, and I think I would be played by a dynamic character actor, so no Brad Pitt for me. I think that’s the zone, living in the Malkovich zone, maybe Willem Dafoe. I’m very self-aware on that front!