Roger Parloff in Fortune profiles Silicon Valley's most powerful man: Larry Sonsini and asks is he too close to his clients and does he have too many conflicts of interest?

This is the story of how a modest securities lawyer became the most powerful man in the most crucial sector of the American economy. And what it means when a player noted for his probity and unfailingly good judgment suddenly finds his name being linked to some pretty sleazy behavior. . .

 

. . . These entrepreneurs were so eager to use him that they did not seem to mind that he often also represented their competitors. For a period in the 1980s, Sonsini was representing Seagate Technologies, Conner Peripherals and Quantum, which were then the country's three largest disk-drive companies - and bitter enemies.

"It's a tradeoff," says Steve Luczo, Seagate's chairman and former CEO. "Because he's counsel to the three biggest, he's also most aware of the issues that face the industry. That's what you want." In addition, Luczo says, he trusted Sonsini to keep his confidences. "We're not idiots," he says. "Would you do that all the time? No. With Larry? Yeah." . . .

 

. . . Though Sonsini sat on nine public boards in February 2002, today he's down to just one, and he says he expects to phase out that one soon too. He's come around to the view that "the presumption" should be against sitting on public boards. "It' s a question of the evolution of independence and objectivity in corporate governance," he says.

Last year Sonsini considered retiring from law practice to become chairman of the private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners. But having turned down the offer, he says he plans to continue practicing for the foreseeable future.

Source: Silicon valley lawyer Larry Sonsini is hurt by scandals - November 27, 2006