Baker Botts Opens in San Francisco

Baker Botts has opened an office in San Francisco, a move designed to bolster the firm’s West Coast presence and move it closer to new and existing technology clients.

The San Francisco office will be headed by partner Patricia Stanton, chair of Baker Botts’ national real estate practice.

San Francisco is “definitely a destination for established and startup technology companies,” Stanton told Big Law Business. “Given our client base and the depth and breadth of our practice in the technology sector, it’s just a natural strategic development for us.”

“We’ve seen a migration of business and talent to San Francisco, and we’ve had clients that have long been asking that we open in that market,” said Stanton, who will be moving from Dallas.

Houston-based Baker Botts has had an office in Palo Alto, Calif., since 2008. Several partners from that office will spend “significant time” working with San Francisco clients, the firm said. Among them: Bryant (B.C.) Boren, chair of the firm’s intellectual property and technology litigation practice; trial lawyer Kevin Sadler; IP litigation attorney Eliot Williams, and Brian Lee, a corporate practice partner.

Jeremy Taylor, formerly a partner with Kirkland & Ellis LLP, joined the firm as special counsel, based in San Francisco.

“We definitely have plans to grow” in San Francisco over time, Stanton said. In addition to technology, the San Francisco office will work on general corporate law, intellectual property, patent litigation, real estate, life sciences, energy and international cases, she said.