Palo Alto

Palo Alto Palo Alto (from Spanish: palo, "stick" and alto, "high" - i.e. tall tree) is a city in Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area named for a tree called El Palo Alto. The city is located at the northern end of Silicon Valley, and is home to Stanford University and several successful high-technology companies, such as Hewlett-Packard. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,598. The median home sale price (including condos) for all of Palo Alto was $948,000 in 2005.

Palo Alto serves as a central economic focal point of Silicon Valley, and is home to more than 6,000 businesses employing more than 98,000 people. Many innovative tech firms reside in the Stanford Research Park on Page Mill Road while Sand Hill Road is a notable haunt for venture capitalists. The city's economy generally follows the economic trends of the rest of Silicon Valley. Well-known companies and research facilities headquartered in Palo Alto include Agilent, Aricent, Amazon.com's A9.com, Facebook, Genencor, Hewlett-Packard, IDEO, SAP AG, Space Systems/Loral and VMware.

Law firms with main offices in Palo Alto include Cooley Godward and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Methodology

This ranking is based on how much over 6,000 associates like their own firms. This ranking does not include prestige, salary or other factors except as they influence how much an associate enjoys working at his or her firm, and how likely said associate is to stay at his or her current firm. Associates from all law firms did not participate. Only firms with 10 or more respondents are included.

See also:

Best Palo Alto Law Firms to Work For

Rank Law Firm Main Office Total Midlevels Response Rate Score (0-100)
1 Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner Washington, D.C. 55 44% 90.0
2 Cooley Godward Palo Alto 98 60% 81.8
3 Howrey Washington, D.C. 102 61% 79.6
4 Greenberg Traurig, P.A. National 166 41% 79.2
5 Morrison & Foerster San Francisco 167 60% 77.2
6 Dechert National 182 34% 73.8
6 Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Washington, D.C. 250 36% 73.8
8 Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman National 137 51% 73.4
8 Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker National 163 96% 73.0
10 DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary National 232 53% 72.2
10 McDermott, Will & Emery National 178 32% 72.0
10 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Palo Alto 142 36% 71.6
13 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius National 268 47% 70.4
13 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld National 120 49% 70.0
13 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Los Angeles 219 47% 69.8
13 Foley & Lardner Milwaukee 163 41% 69.6
17 White & Case International 150 48% 67.8
18 Bingham McCutchen National 176 42% 66.2
18 Ropes & Gray Boston 194 31% 65.8
20 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett New York 213 32% 65.2
21 Dewey Ballantine New York 78 49% 62.8
22 Sullivan & Cromwell New York 171 83% 60.4
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