(Palo Alto, February 21, 2006) – Ropes & Gray is pleased to announce that Eric W. Wright has joined the firm’s Palo Alto office as a partner. Wright’s practice is focused on the formation and operation of venture capital and other private equity funds. Ropes & Gray now has over 40 lawyers in its Palo Alto and San Francisco offices. 

Wright comes to Ropes & Gray after 12 years at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he was named partner in 1998. At Ropes & Gray, Wright joins corporate partner Brian C. Erb, who made the move to Ropes & Gray from WSGR in August 2005.

Wright joins more than 75 attorneys in the Ropes & Gray investment funds practice, contributing a dynamic new California dimension to the firm’s aggressive growth.

“Eric adds real strength to our private equity fund organization and investment team on the West Coast,” said Larry Jordan Rowe, co-chair of Ropes & Gray’s Private Equity practice. “His arrival adds another component to our expanding nationwide practice.”
  
“Given the great wealth that has been amassed in Silicon Valley over the last 20 years and increasing regulation in the private equity industry, it’s clear that there’s a great opportunity in California for a firm like Ropes & Gray, which possesses one of the most sophisticated private equity and investment management practices in the country,” added Wright. “I’m very excited at the prospect of offering this depth of expertise to my clients.”

Before joining Wilson Sonsini, Wright was with Cravath Swain & Moore in New York and London (1988-1992) and Ware & Friedrich in Palo Alto (1992 -1994). In 1988, he earned his law degree cum laude from New York University School of Law, where he was managing editor of the Journal of International Law and Politics. He received his A.B. from Stanford University in 1985.

Wright is a member of the California and the New York State Bars.

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