Which law firms are advising on Anthropic's IPO?

Five international law firms - including Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Freshfields, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Orrick and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton - are advising artificial intelligence company Anthropic and various stakeholders in connection with its proposed initial public offering (IPO) in the United States.

The details emerged from the registration statement filed by Anthropic with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 26.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is acting as counsel to Anthropic for the public offering, while Freshfields US LLP is advising the underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

The Wilson Sonsini team is led by firm chair Rezwan D Pavri and includes corporate department head Allison B Spinner, capital markets partner Jonie I Kondracki, and corporate and securities lawyers Lang Liu, Colin G Conklin, Lester Ang and Shannon R Delahaye.

Wilson Sonsini has previously advised Anthropic on several transactions, including the establishment of its Long-Term Benefit Trust in 2023 and its expanded collaboration with Amazon Web Services in 2024.

The Freshfields team comprises Sarah K Solum, Calise Y Cheng and Phillip S Stoup.

Solum serves as the firm's global co-head of US capital markets.

Orrick is acting as co-counsel to Anthropic on certain executive compensation and equity matters.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore is advising Anthropic's co-founders on corporate governance matters.

The Cravath team includes Nicholas Dorsey, Aaron Gruber and Claudia Fitzpatrick. Christopher Fargo is advising on tax matters, William Podurgiel on corporate governance, and Jonathan Katz on executive compensation and benefits.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is advising Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust on certain governance matters.

The advisory team includes Francesca Odell, co-leader of Cleary Gottlieb's public company group, and Yale Law School professor John Morley.

Interestingly, the IPO filing also disclosed that investment partnerships affiliated with Wilson Sonsini collectively hold less than 0.01% of Anthropic's outstanding shares.

The preliminary prospectus does not disclose the legal fees payable to the law firms advising on the offering. The estimated legal fees and expenses have been left blank.

Anthropic, which develops the Claude family of artificial intelligence models, is proposing to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ANT.

The company has not yet disclosed the number of shares proposed to be offered or the expected price range.

The IPO could become one of the largest public offerings in history, with market estimates suggesting a potential valuation of between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion.

The offering remains subject to regulatory requirements and market conditions.