* as of 8/1/23
The federal government. Regulatory and enforcement agencies. Top decision-makers in the biggest industries in the world. Practicing law in Washington, D.C., is a whole different ball game.
Every D.C. firm worth your consideration will tell you about their proximity to the White House and K Street or their deep bench of former government officials and industry insiders.
Wilson Sonsini can go toe to toe with any of them on those points. But you should know that Washington, D.C., has been a growing tech hub for years: AOL was founded here, Amazon opened HQ2 just across the river in Arlington, and Northern Virginia’s Dulles Tech Corridor boasts a cluster of tech company headquarters and outposts. With our Silicon Valley roots and decades of experience helping start-ups and scale-ups in the tech and life sciences industries, our presence in D.C. just makes sense.
And it is an incredible place to practice law. Our D.C. practice is wide-ranging, so there is a wide range of practice groups from which to choose. Whether you work in antitrust and investigations or patents and transactions, or any of our other DC practice areas, you’ll learn from an established and growing team of litigators, dealmakers, and regulatory professionals.
You’ll also gain perspective from colleagues and mentors with substantial experience before major federal agencies, including the SEC, DOJ, FTC, FCC, USPTO, Copyright Office, Copyright Royalty Board, and the Departments of Commerce, Defense, State, and Treasury.
Our D.C. office hosts 11 to 15 summers each year, and they are assigned to any of a number of practices, including antitrust, appellate, corporate, complex litigation (which could include FCPA, government investigations, and white collar), M&A, national security, patents and IP, privacy and cybersecurity, or IT transactions.
Explore Washington, D.C. Practices
Join Our Team
With the largest Life Sciences-focused patent practice in the world, Wilson Sonsini’s unmatched expertise services a diverse client base from start-ups to established industry leaders on global patent portfolio development and management. Associates learn from the best through early, hands-on experience and comprehensive training and development opportunities. You will draft and prosecute patent applications, prepare patent opinion letters and provide IP counseling to clients as well as supervise junior attorneys and patent agents. We want to hear from you if you have 1-4 years of patent prosecution law firm experience, patent bar membership, and a background in one of the following fields: cell or molecular biology, immunology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, medicinal chemistry, cancer biology, pharmacology, organic chemistry, biophysics, or digital health focused disciplines.
The Legal Education Manager will work closely with the Director of Legal Education & Development; the Chief Professional Development, Engagement & Inclusion Officer; firm management; department and practice group leadership; and the broader PD team to implement relevant, effective, and dynamic legal training programs for our litigation and regulatory departments firmwide.
Wilson Sonsini's Accelerated Consideration for Employment (ACE) program is an opportunity for applicants with a serious interest in Wilson Sonsini to get a decision from us on a much earlier timeline. For those candidates who have done their research and know where they want to be, this program offers an opportunity to begin our application process earlier and move through more quickly.
The ACE application will remain open until May 27th. We will review applications on a rolling basis, and we will conduct screening interviews the week of June 10th. Callback interviews will take place beginning on June 17th. You will be asked to submit your Fall Semester grades as part of this application. Spring Semester grades will be collected at a later time. Our general Summer Associate application will open on May 28th.
The life science business advisory practice at Wilson Sonsini was formed in 2019 to provide emerging growth and more established life science companies with critical business advice and transactional support. This non-legal practice focuses on life science companies that need support raising capital, developing and evolving their business strategies, and developing and executing on partnership, licensing and M&A transactions. We are seeking to hire a Director, Life Science Business Advisory Practice, to grow the burgeoning practice. The Director will source clients and execute projects and transactions for clients to support on their business needs. The successful candidate will also support the strategic build out of the practice.
If you would like to submit an application to Wilson Sonsini, but do not see an active posting for the office or practice you are interested in, please apply here.
Did you know?
There are more than 20 participants in Wilson Sonsini's Patent Agent Law School Program (PALS) at any given time.