Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati tapped two partners to lead the firm as longtime Managing Partner Douglas Clark prepares to exit.
California litigator Caz Hashemi and New York capital markets partner Megan Baier will become the firm’s next managing partners in August 2026, the firm said Wednesday. They will succeed Clark, who is set to retire after leading the firm since 2012.
“Leading Wilson Sonsini for the past 13 years has been an incredible honor,” Clark said in a statement. Hashemi and Baier “embody the qualities that have fueled our success—strategic insight, a solutions-oriented mindset, and the ability to guide both clients and the firm through pivotal moments,” he said.
The firm is a Silicon Valley legal pioneer whose lawyers helped
Hashemi, based in Palo Alto, joined Wilson Sonsini in 2000 from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He serves as the head of Wilson Sonsini’s litigation department and has been a member of its board of directors. His clients have include Autodesk, Gen Digital, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Lumentum, Lyft, and Netflix.
Baier, who is based in New York, joined Wilson Sonsini in 2014 from Ropes & Gray and became partner at the firm in 2017. She has worked on capital markets transactions for KnowBe4, Aurora Innovation, Babylon Health, Livongo Health, and GoDaddy, among others.
“Previous leaders have established a foundation of excellence at Wilson Sonsini, and Caz and I are committed to building on it—investing in the next generation of practitioners, accelerating our strategic priorities, and continuing to deliver the trusted, innovative counsel our clients rely on,” Baier said in a statement.
Emerging Competition
Clark will step down from his role in August 2026 and will serve in a senior advisory role through the end of the next fiscal year.
He has been at Wilson Sonsini for more than three decades and led the firm’s litigation department for several years before becoming its managing partner. The firm, which now has more than 1,000 lawyers, grew its annual revenue from $549 million in 2012 to $1.4 billion in 2025, according to Wilson Sonsini.
The firm has faced widespread speculation about its future when founder Larry Sonsini stepped down from the top role in 2005, but has done a strong job of succession planning, said Natasha Innocenti, a legal recruiter for Empire Search Partners.
“They continue the tradition of having litigation representation at the top of the firm, which not only reflects but ensures their growth there,” she said. Hashemi and Baier “are highly regarded stars in their own right,” according to Innocenti.
Wilson Sonsini’s dominance in the startup space has been challenged in recent years by competitors. Larger and richer law firms set their sights on building emerging companies and venture capital practices, hoping to capture work for startup clients thanks to their deeper benches of ancillary practices.
Latham & Watkins and Davis Polk & Wardwell have been the busiest law firms on the company and underwriter side over the past decade, followed by Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
Paul Hastings brought on Wilson Sonsini partners James Huie and Mike Pestana to boost its ECVC practice in San Francisco and Palo Alto earlier this year. Orrick also poached several partners from Wilson Sonsini, including Jim Jensen who now leads its fund formation practice in Silicon Valley.
Still, Wilson Sonsini remains one of the top IPO firms. Its lawyers advised the likes of financial tech company Chime, cybersecurity company Netskope, and Ascentage Pharma on their IPOs this year.
The startup market is maturing as more founders now want counsel that can scale with them globally and handle regulatory friction early, said Nick Goseland, founder of San Francisco-based Edgewater Search Group. Wilson Sonsini saw this coming years ago, according to Goseland, and invested in regulatory, privacy, and litigation talent before the AI boom made those areas essential
The firm is also advising AI startup Anthropic in its early stages of an initial public offering. The IPO, which could come as early as 2026, is slated to be one of the largest in history with a potential valuation above $300 billion. The firm has worked with Anthropic since 2022, previously advising on its structure as a public benefit corporation and on investments from
“There’s always speculation about whether Wilson will lose ground to broader-platform firms,” Goseland said. “But if the most sought-after AI companies still choose them for their foundational matters, that speaks louder than any market narrative,” he said.
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