Larry Sonsini

Larry Sonsini (born c. 1941 in Rome, New York) is an American lawyer specializing all aspects of corporate law. He is the chairman of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm in business and intellectual property law. Sonsini has been described by Fortune as “the most influential and well-connected lawyer in the industry.”

Sonsini studied securities law at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley where he graduated and received his law degree from in 1966. He also received his Bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963.

Sonsini started out counseling semiconductor companies including Cypress Semiconductor, National Semiconductor and LSI Logic. He later counseled hardware firms such as Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer, Silicon Graphics and Seagate Technology and software companies such as Novell, Sybase, WordPerfect and VMware. He has also worked for Google, Netscape and YouTube. He has served as an advisor to many of the key figures in Silicon Valley history, including Steve Jobs, and the principals of Google and Hewlett-Packard.

Sonsini was recognized for his commitment to education in Silicon Valley at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation's September 2012 Pioneers & Purpose event. He was honored with the Pioneer Business Leader Award, which is awarded to individuals who have achieved outstanding accomplishments in business and education.

His son Pete Sonsini joined the venture capitial firm New Enterprise Associates in 2005.