Keker Van Nest & Peters celebrates 40 years

San Francisco-based Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP celebrated Monday the 40-year milestone since John Keker and his law school classmate Bill Brockett founded what would become the firm. It will be hosting a celebration for lawyers, staff, alumni and their guests this Friday at the Bentley Reserve.

“Our firm started with and stuck with one big idea: try the most challenging cases, civil or criminal, better than anyone else,” Keker said. “I am proud that idea has attracted great people, and that we have a group of partners and associates, current and former, who made that idea work. And we aren’t slowing down. The fighting spirit will live on.”

The firm has represented a range of individuals such as Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver, private equity mogul Warren Hellman, filmmaker George Lucas, investment banker Frank Quattrone, internet activist Aaron Swartz and cyclist Lance Armstrong. Its current clients include Electronic Arts Inc., Lyft Inc., Google LLC, Facebook Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Arista Networks Inc., Waymo LLC, Major League Baseball Enterprises Inc., Public Storage, Comcast Corporation, Sutter Health and Netflix Inc.

Keker Van Nest & Peters reports it has tried more than 55 cases in the past 10 years while its revenue during that time grew 66 percent. This summer the firm expanded its summer associate program, which launched in 2007, to include six to eight law students per year.

The firm also encourages its attorneys to take on pro bono cases that have far-reaching social impact and states it regularly devotes more than 5 percent of its billable time on pro bono work, which was 7.2 percent in 2016 and 8.3 percent in 2017.

— Matt Sanderson