Our San Francisco office opened in 1971. Since 2001, the San Francisco office has grown from 25 lawyers to over 50 lawyers. The lawyers in our San Francisco office handle a wide range of complex litigation and transactional matters for local, regional, national and international clients. We regularly handle high-profile matters for some of the world’s largest corporations, entrepreneurial businesses and government agencies. Our lawyers work closely with one another and with lawyers from the firm’s other offices, in order to take advantage of the different areas of experience throughout the firm. As a result, the San Francisco office offers both the collegial atmosphere of a mid-size office and the unparalleled resources and sophisticated practice of one of the world’s largest law firms.

The San Francisco litigation lawyers handle all forms of business litigation in federal and state courts in the San Francisco Bay Area, throughout the West Coast and across the country. Litigators in the San Francisco office have experience in a number of areas, including: antitrust; appellate; business torts; class actions; commercial contracts; consumer remedies; defamation; directors’ and officers’ liability; economic and regulatory; false advertising; financial institutions; health care litigation and regulatory; injunctions and other emergency litigation; internal investigations; intellectual property; labor and employment; patent litigation; product liability; real estate; RICO; securities fraud; telecommunications; trade secrets; and unfair competition.

The corporate lawyers in the San Francisco office have experience in a wide variety of practice areas, including: corporate finance and securities; mergers and acquisitions; corporate governance; hedgefunds/pooled investment entities; securitization and structured finance; and public finance. Our corporate finance and securities practice is part of a firm-wide practice that is consistently ranked among the top practices by Thomson Financial. Our public finance practice has long represented government entities, public agencies and utilities, and non-for-profit institutions. Our securitization practice is part of a firm-wide practice that has been on the forefront in the development of transactional structures for numerous asset classes.

We have a tradition of being firmly committed to the professional development of each lawyer in offices throughout the firm. To assist in making the transition from law student to lawyer, we give our new associates a broad range of practical, hands-on experiences. We also have a mentor program in which each new associate is paired with a partner to help promote professional growth and development at the firm.

We are especially proud of the dedication that our lawyers have demonstrated to the community. In addition to our extensive pro bono activities, the San Francisco office has created two significant Public Interest Fellowship programs with Stanford and Boalt law schools. Through these efforts, we have provided needed resources to low-income individuals and nonprofit organizations.

The San Francisco and Los Angeles offices also serve as a focal point of the firm’s Pacific Rim and international practices. Lawyers in San Francisco and Los Angeles often collaborate with lawyers in our five Asian offices (Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo) and in our London, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva and Sydney offices to provide a fully integrated practice dedicated to servicing our clients’ needs, including international arbitrations and business transactions.

Our summer associate program is an invaluable window into our practice and firm culture. We provide our summer associates with something priceless – experience. As a summer associate, you will be able to select projects that interest you and then perform legal work under the supervision of our lawyers. Such direct participation enables you to observe the way Sidley’s lawyers help to solve problems and create opportunities for our clients.

Summer associate work assignments are generally real projects for clients of the firm that would otherwise be performed by associates.We give our summer associates substantial flexibility to choose assignments that reflect their own individual and professional interests. Many summer associates choose to explore projects from a variety of our work groups, while others choose to emphasize one or two particular practice areas. Summer associates will also have opportunities to attend and observe our lawyers in various “real life” activities such as client conferences, court hearings, depositions, interviews, negotiations, due diligence and closings.

We believe that an essential component of our summer program is the opportunity that we provide summer associates to learn and develop their professional skills. Our training includes detailed reviews of each summer associate’s work product, as well as more formal training programs. We also assign mentors to provide guidance to our summer associates.

For more information contact:
Yvonne Millette
Legal Recruiting
Sidley Austin LLP
555 California Street
Suite 2000
San Francisco, CA 94104