David Jedrzejek is senior vice president and general counsel of Levi Strauss & Co. Previously, he was associate general counsel at Gap Inc. David was a corporate associate in Wilson Sonsini’s Palo Alto office from 1999 until 2005. He earned his J.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1995.

We recently spoke with David about his time at Wilson Sonsini and his career path, among other topics.

What did you learn from your time at Wilson Sonsini? Can you share any notable achievements from your time at the firm?

I’d say the most important thing I learned from my time at the firm was the value of being a really well-rounded, practical lawyer. I had previously been a litigator at another law firm, and when I came to Wilson, I switched over to corporate transactional work. Having experience in both litigation and corporate added a lot to my background, but at Wilson, I also learned how to be a practical, business-oriented lawyer—somebody who provides solutions to clients, rather than just legal interpretations. I think that’s one thing in particular that sets Wilson Sonsini apart from other firms. It’s certainly something that I picked up during my time at the firm, and it’s been valuable for me ever since.

In terms of notable achievements, one of the biggest transactions I worked on—and it was toward the end of my time at Wilson—was the IPO for Dolby Laboratories. It was a big transaction at the time. Dolby had been around for a long time, but they had been a private company. I helped manage that IPO, and it was very successful. My experience on that transaction helped a lot when Levi Strauss went public a few years ago, given several similarities between the two companies.

How did Wilson Sonsini prepare you for the challenges you face today as a general counsel?

It goes back to what I said before about the importance of being a solutions-oriented advisor. When you’re in-house in the general counsel seat, the business is not always looking for a precise legal interpretation. They’re looking for practical guidance—what should we do, not just what does the law say. It’s really about trying to provide the business with solutions to its problems while making sure we maintain our values and stay out of trouble.

The other thing that I took away from a lot of the clients I worked with at Wilson Sonsini was the technology-oriented nature of their work. When I was at Wilson, most of my clients were tech companies. Now I’m at Levi Strauss, which is not traditionally seen as a tech company, but we use technology in pretty much everything we do, including how we interact with consumers, how we use data analytics, and how we manage our supply chain. We’ve also started to use AI in a lot of different parts of our business. So, bringing that kind of technology-oriented mindset that I had at the firm to the work I’ve done since then has been very important.

How have you stayed connected to Wilson Sonsini and its community since leaving the firm?

Over the years, I’ve used Wilson as outside counsel on a number of projects, which has been great. I’ve also really appreciated the connection that I’ve had through the newsletters the firm puts out and the continuing education opportunities. But I think most important has been the network of alumni, staying in touch with people I worked with, people I was friends with—that’s been very rewarding. The alumni network is so large, especially in the Bay Area, that you’re always running into people who practiced at Wilson or know somebody who’s at Wilson. It creates a really strong network where we help each other out.

What’s something interesting that people would be surprised to learn about you?

You might have seen recently the running of the bulls event in Pamplona, Spain, where a bunch of crazy people run down the streets with bulls chasing them. I did that many years ago, and I survived! It was something fun and a real adrenaline rush. I’ll never forget it.