Shartsis Friese

About the Firm

Shartsis Friese is designed to be client-focused and solution-driven.  We specialize in high-quality practice areas that serve the needs of businesses and sophisticated individuals.   

For nearly 50 years, we have offered clients an alternative to large national law firms.  We provide premium quality legal work, but with more personal service, lower billing rates, and more efficient staffing than larger firms.  We have assembled top legal talent to create elite practice groups best suited to serving dynamic companies and sophisticated individuals.   

We achieve excellent results for our clients in major local, national, and international litigation; we provide world-renowned representation of investment managers and hedge funds; we handle real estate transactions across the United States for many of the most dynamic companies in the country; we represent major business figures in managing their personal wealth and estates; and we counsel a wide variety of companies and individuals in business, securities, tax and intellectual property transactions.  

We find solutions to complex business and litigation issues.  In business, IP, and real estate transactions, we get deals done in a timely manner and keep the legal problems from driving the transaction.  In counseling start-up and mature businesses, we help clients address legal and regulatory issues in ways that advance their business plans rather than impede them.  In litigation, we first focus on the client’s ultimate objective, and then develop a strategy to get there.  In estate planning, we concentrate on preserving family wealth consistent with the other personal objectives of our clients.   

Our lawyers have outstanding academic records from top law schools, and many are leaders in their respective fields.  Many of our lawyers have moved to our firm from large and prominent national firms because our approach to personal service, with our low-leverage low-turnover design, is better suited to serve clients’ needs. 

Shartsis in the Community 

We are proud of our strong San Francisco and Bay Area roots.  The Firm and its lawyers are active participants in our local business, legal, academic, and philanthropic communities. 

Shartsis Friese is proud to have been listed among the Top Corporate Philanthropists in the Greater Bay Area by San Francisco Business Times each year since 2007. We support numerous organizations throughout the Bay Area with their contributions of our time and money. A significant number of our attorneys serve on non-profit boards of directors for local Bay Area and national organizations. 

In 2004, the Firm founded the Shartsis Friese LLP Public Interest Fellowship, which for a two-year period subsidizes a staff attorney position at a selected organization providing legal services to San Francisco Bay Area community members who cannot afford legal services.  The Firm also established an annual scholarship at Students Rising Above, which covers the expense of sending several low-income, first-generation college students to college each year, along with providing tutoring, personal mentoring, career coaching, and job training workshops.   

Join Us 

Despite our lean size, we are one of San Francisco’s leading law firms. We serve as outside general counsel to some of the region’s leading mid-cap companies, while maintaining premier practices in areas such as hedge funds and investment advisors, securities enforcement defense, real estate, intellectual property, mergers & acquisitions, venture capital, tax, and trusts & estates litigation. We are also known for our trial and litigation capabilities and are regularly called upon to handle some of the most exciting cases in state and federal courts. 

Competitive Compensation:  We offer a competitive salary.  Our billable hours target for associates (including pro-bono time and certain administrative time) is 1850 hours.  Significant bonuses are given to associates who bill 1950 hours or more. We also provide an excellent range of benefits. 

Entrepreneurial and Independent Spirit:  We value of entrepreneurship in the practice of law. Partners at the Firm have built thriving practices in a number of niche areas and are regarded as leaders in their fields. New lawyers are encouraged to think about their future and are given the tools and support to build a practice over time. We believe that to remain successful it is important that everyone contribute and that nobody be ignored. The Firm has a mentorship program, and each associate has two partners to advise them on a wide range of professional and practice development goals. We want attorneys who want to assume responsibility early in their careers and who also seek to grow, learn and develop — not only as lawyers, but also as leaders and future owners of the Firm. 

Commitment to Diversity:  We value the diversity of our people and have made a conscious effort to create an open, egalitarian, and supportive environment where all our people can thrive. All members of the Firm recognize that the practice of law and the quality of firm life are enlivened and strengthened by people from different backgrounds. 

Transparency in Firm Management:  Associates sit on most Firm committees, including the Management Committee, and routinely participate in important management decisions. 

Stability:  The number of attorneys practicing at Shartsis Friese grows slowly and incrementally, and we like it that way. We have no desire to merge into a large firm, open offices outside of San Francisco or diverge from a model that has worked extremely well for us for more nearly 50 years. We have maintained a partner to non-partner attorney ratio of close to one-to-one and we fully expect to continue to do so in the future. 

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Shartsis Friese provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, disability, results of genetic testing, or service in the military, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.  Equal employment opportunity applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leave of absence, compensation, and training.  Shartsis Friese expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment or discrimination based on any of the characteristics mentioned above. Improper interference with the ability of other employees to perform their expected job duties is not tolerated.  

Your Privacy 

California law requires that we provide you information about the collection and use of your personal information.  Our Recruiting Privacy Notice can be found on our website. We encourage you to read it carefully.