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Bob O'Connor
Partner
Corporate
San Francisco
Los Angeles

D415-947-2123

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  • A Strategic Partner

    Bob serves as a strategic partner to his clients and their boards of directors through a broad range of complex financing and strategic corporate transactions at all stages of their development, from inception through exit.

  • Wide-Ranging Clients

    Bob focuses on the representation of clients innovating in the energy, infrastructure, mobility, consumer products, and sustainability sectors, as well as the representation of venture capital and private equity firms, corporate venture groups, family offices, and impact investors that finance them.

  • Energy and Sustainability Industry Expertise

    Bob founded the firm’s energy and climate solutions practice in 2003, co-leads the firm’s industry practice group today, and is considered to be a nationally-recognized thought leader in the field.

  • A Recognized Practitioner

    He has repeatedly been named as a leader in his field by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, is annually recognized in Best Lawyers in America, and has been named among California’s “Top Emerging Companies Lawyers” by the Daily Journal.

Robert (Bob) O'Connor is a corporate partner with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Bob's global practice focuses on the representation of high-growth enterprises, with an emphasis on those innovating in the energy, infrastructure, mobility, consumer products, and sustainability sectors, as well as the representation of venture capital and private equity firms, corporate venture groups, family offices, and impact investors that finance them. Bob serves as a strategic partner to his clients and their boards of directors through a broad range of complex financing and strategic corporate transactions at all stages of their development, from inception through exit.

Bob is credited with having founded the firm's energy and climate solutions practice in 2003 and co-leads the firm's industry initiative today, which includes a cross-disciplinary team that is widely viewed as being among the preeminent energy and infrastructure practices in the country. Nationally recognized as a thought leader in the sector, Bob is a frequent speaker at prominent industry events nationally, and he is a go-to strategic partner to universities, laboratories, and accelerators committed to technology commercialization directed at energy and infrastructure innovation.

Prior to founding the firm's energy and climate solutions practice, Bob founded and served as managing partner of the firm's Salt Lake City office, during which time he represented many of the leading venture capital and private equity investors and technology enterprises in the region, including Altiris (sold to Symantec), Backcountry.com, High West Distillery, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Omniture (sold to Adobe Systems), Overstock.com, and SkullCandy.

Experience

Robert (Bob) O'Connor is a corporate partner with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Bob's global practice focuses on the representation of high-growth enterprises, with an emphasis on those innovating in the energy, infrastructure, mobility, consumer products, and sustainability sectors, as well as the representation of venture capital and private equity firms, corporate venture groups, family offices, and impact investors that finance them. Bob serves as a strategic partner to his clients and their boards of directors through a broad range of complex financing and strategic corporate transactions at all stages of their development, from inception through exit.

Bob is credited with having founded the firm's energy and climate solutions practice in 2003 and co-leads the firm's industry initiative today, which includes a cross-disciplinary team that is widely viewed as being among the preeminent energy and infrastructure practices in the country. Nationally recognized as a thought leader in the sector, Bob is a frequent speaker at prominent industry events nationally, and he is a go-to strategic partner to universities, laboratories, and accelerators committed to technology commercialization directed at energy and infrastructure innovation.

Prior to founding the firm's energy and climate solutions practice, Bob founded and served as managing partner of the firm's Salt Lake City office, during which time he represented many of the leading venture capital and private equity investors and technology enterprises in the region, including Altiris (sold to Symantec), Backcountry.com, High West Distillery, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Omniture (sold to Adobe Systems), Overstock.com, and SkullCandy.

Focus Areas
Recent Insights
Client Highlights
Wilson Sonsini Advises Thea Energy on $100 Million Series B
On May 27, 2026, Thea Energy, a technology company advancing the stellarator for the commercialization of an abundant source of baseload fusion power, announced it has raised $100 million in Series B funding that draws support from Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), General Innovation Capital Partners (GICP), Linse Capital, Calm Ventures, Climate Capital, Divergent Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures, Gaingels, Idemitsu Kosan, Overlay Capital, Timescale Ventures, and Whatif Ventures. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised Thea Energy on the transaction.
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Client Highlights
Wilson Sonsini Advises Zanskar on Close of $40 Million in Novel Development Capital Financing
On April 16, 2026, Zanskar, the first AI-native geothermal energy company, announced the closing of $40 million in a Development Capital Facility. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised Zanskar on the transaction, which is among the first ever structured for early-stage geothermal development. The financing was co-led by Just Climate and Spring Lane Capital, with additional capital committed by Tierra Adentro Growth Capital.

The Development Capital Facility draws on best practices from the renewables and natural resource sectors, establishing a revolving development credit facility designed to accelerate project development across Zanskar’s growing portfolio. The non-recourse facility covers key pre-construction activities, bridging projects to traditional bank project financing, and is structured to upsize to $100 million as Zanskar’s portfolio scales.

The financing transaction strengthens Zanskar’s ability to commercialize its pipeline of naturally occurring geothermal systems and sets a scalable financing precedent for greenfield geothermal as a recognized asset class across the United States.

The Wilson Sonsini team that advised Zanskar on the transaction included Scott Zimmermann, Jason Slagle, Nicole Gambino, Bob O’Connor, Jordana Palgon, and Jenae Sharp.
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Recent Events
Affiliated Programs
The Great Salt Lake Rendezvous
Wilson Sonsini is a proud sponsor of The Great Salt Lake Rendezvous in partnership with Grow the Flow Utah.
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Affiliated Programs
How ESG Drives Company Growth
Wilson Sonsini will join Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center and partners for a virtual event, How ESG Drives Company Growth. Public markets and consumers are emphasizing the importance of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), which means entrepreneurs can and should build ESG into their company’s foundation from the outset. This event will highlight how to do that, as well as best practices in ESG.
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