Catherwood LibraryILR School

Fenwick & West, a prominent law firm in the San Francisco area, will reduce its total workforce by ten percent, according to the company’s recent announcement. The Silicon Valley law firm primarily focuses on technology-related mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital, and does not focus heavily on traditional law practices. Other Silicon Valley law firms have also laid off employees, such as Cooley, Goodwin Procter, Gunderson Dettmer, and Wilson Sonsini. These layoffs are due to uncertainty and a decrease in revenue within the technology industry. The value of venture capital deals in the past year has dropped and is thirty percent lower than last year’s value. These law firms increased their workforces in 2020 and 2021 when venture capital firms began significantly increasing investments in start-up companies. Venture capital firms did not provide as much funding for start-up companies as expected due to increasing interest rates, and these law firms had more employees than needed.