Editing Silicon Valley (section)

===Lawyers and law firms===
Prior to 1970, most Northern California [[lawyer]]s were based in San Francisco, especially the experienced [[patent attorney]]s whom the high-tech industry needed to protect its intellectual property. During the 1970s, lawyers began to follow venture capitalists down the [[San Francisco Peninsula|Peninsula]] to serve the booming high-tech industry in Silicon Valley.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Stephen B. |last2=Chambers |first2=Dustin |last3=Schultz |first3=Michael |title=A moving target: The geographic evolution of Silicon Valley, 1953–1990 |journal=Business History |date=2018 |volume=60 |issue=6 |pages=859–883 |doi=10.1080/00076791.2017.1346612 |s2cid=157613638 }}</ref> As of 1999, there were 2,400 lawyers practicing law in Palo Alto, a city of only 50,000 people, "the densest concentration of lawyers" in the United States outside of [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="Friedman_Page_470">{{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Lawrence M. |authorlink1=Lawrence M. Friedman |title=American Law in the Twentieth Century |date=2004 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=9780300102994 |page=470 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kZNwJZxRr0C&pg=PA470 |access-date=August 12, 2020}}</ref>

By the year 2000, large [[law firm]]s from all over the world were rushing to establish offices in the mid-Peninsula region on or near Sand Hill Road, and Silicon Valley law firms had become global trendsetters in that they were the first legal services employers to adopt [[business casual]] apparel (in imitation of their startup clients).<ref name="Baker">{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Debra |title=Go West, Young Lawyer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DAbP-o4iGkcC&pg=PA34 |access-date=July 9, 2023 |work=ABA Journal |date=May 2000 |pages=34–38, 97 }}</ref> During this era, lawyers evolved from their relatively narrow conventional role as protectors of intellectual property into business advisers, intermediaries, and dealmakers, and thereby acquired great prominence in Silicon Valley.<ref name="Baker" /><ref name="Suchman_Page_71">{{cite book |last1=Suchman |first1=Mark C. |editor1-last=Kenney |editor1-first=Martin |title=Understanding Silicon Valley: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneurial Region |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=9780804737340 |pages=71–97 |chapter=Chapter Four: Dealmakers and Counselors: Law Firms as Intermediaries in the Development of Silicon Valley | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLxzUW4V_2cC&pg=PA71 |access-date=July 9, 2023}}</ref> For young entrepreneurs new to the Valley's mysterious ways, their lawyer often served as their first coach, mentor, teacher, friend, and cheerleader who helped connect them to the Valley's startup ecosystem.<ref name="Johnson_Page_325">{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Craig W. |editor1-last=Lee |editor1-first=Chong-Moon |editor2-last=Miller |editor2-first=William F. |editor3-last=Hancock |editor3-first=Marguerite Gong |editor4-last=Rowen |editor4-first=Henry S. |title=The Silicon Valley Edge: A Habitat for Innovation and Entrepreneurship |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=9780804740630 |pages=325–341 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eK52augjU98C&pg=PA325 |access-date=December 3, 2023|chapter=Advising the New Economy: The Role of Lawyers}}</ref>

As of 2023, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area had the highest average wage for lawyers in the United States, at $268,570.<ref name="ABA_Wages">{{cite web |title=Wages |url=https://www.abalegalprofile.com/wages.html |website=ABA Profile of the Legal Profession 2024 |publisher=American Bar Association |access-date=December 18, 2024 |date=November 18, 2024}}</ref> ''[[Above the Law (website)|Above the Law]]'' occasionally publishes lists of top-performing Silicon Valley law firms, which it calls the "white sandal elite", a parody of the "[[white-shoe firm]]" descriptor traditionally applied to certain [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] professional services firms.<ref>[https://abovethelaw.com/2016/05/the-white-sandal-elite-the-go-to-law-firms-of-silicon-valley/ "The White Sandal Elite: The Go-To Law Firms of Silicon Valley"] ''Above the Law'', May 4, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2024.</ref><ref>[https://abovethelaw.com/2024/08/the-white-sandal-elite-the-go-to-law-firms-for-silicon-valley/ "The White Sandal Elite: The Go-To Law Firms For Silicon Valley"] ''Above the Law'', August 23, 2024. Retrieved December 3, 2024.</ref>