Venture capital and emerging companies in United States

Cooley LLP is an undoubted market leader for all forms of venture capital and emerging companies work. The ‘great team‘ is widely considered by clients to be an ‘extension of the business‘ and a ‘great business partner to a company that does not have in-house legal counsel‘. The balanced practice acts for a wide mix of early-to-late stage companies, and venture capital, corporate venture and private equity funds. In 2021, the firm expanded its domestic footprint by opening a Chicago office, to build on the city’s emerging status as a tech hub. This includes three new dedicated emerging companies partners: Richard Ginsberg, Laurie Bauer and Greg Grossman, who respectively joined from Winston & Strawn LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP and DLA Piper LLP (US). They add to a practice with a strong presence on the East Coast, including New York partners Adam Dinow (‘an encyclopedia of equity deal terms and investment matters‘) and Stephane Levy  (‘continues to deliver best-in-class business-focused and pragmatic legal advice‘), and Michael Lincoln in Virginia. San Francisco-based practice head Peter Werner and partner Rachel Proffitt, as well as Palo Alto’s Sale Kwon and Mark Tanoury, are among the key names flying the West Coast flag. Matthew Bartus is global co-chair of the practice.

DLA Piper LLP (US) has a well respected nationwide practice that regularly represents venture capital investors and companies. This includes corporate finance advice on all stages of the funding life cycle, from launch through to IPO and beyond, as well as ancillary support in key areas such as IP protection and commercialization. The firm’s international reach also adds weight on cross-border mandates and has proved a draw for major global investors such as Softbank Vision Fund 2. Jeffrey Lehrer leads the team from the firm’s office in Northern Virginia. Other key individuals include Seattle’s Trenton Dykes, who is ‘invaluable to us for strategy and approach to our investment opportunities‘, and Curtis Mo in Silicon Valley, who ‘possesses an incredibly deep knowledge of the venture market and venture deals‘. Charles Torres in New York, Randy Socol in San Diego and Jeffrey Leavitt in Atlanta round out the well spread group. Austin-based former co-head Jenifer Renzenbrink Smith left to join Latham & Watkins LLP.

Fenwick & West LLP is praised for its ‘phenomenal‘ depth of experience that covers the full lifecycle of issues that emerging companies can face. The corporate side of the practice contains multiple ‘expert negotiators who only escalate truly material points and otherwise find creative compromises on the rest‘. With over 1,000 venture capital-backed companies on its books, few firms can rival the sheer volume of mandates it handles, particularly in the technology sector where the majority of its clients operate. Many come to the firm through its strong links to leading accelerators and incubators, and of these, several have reached unicorn status. The firm has excellent credentials for assisting later stage companies, many of which have become household names, on multibillion-dollar IPOs. The Silicon Valley-based team is led by Cindy Hess and the ‘extremely knowledgeable‘ Mark Leahy, with strong support from experienced partners such as Gordon Davidson and Michael Esquivel. Clients also rate the ‘brilliant‘ Steven Levine, who has ‘groomed an exceptional young talent pool in the associate ranks‘. Among the associates, clients single out the ‘up-and-coming‘ Will Black, ‘who is meticulously in the weeds on every deal‘, and the ‘responsive‘ Shajee Rizvi.

Goodwin has an excellent track record for representing companies and investors throughout all stages of the venture life cycle. The firm’s Boston team is especially noted for its support to clients in the life sciences sector, where it is ‘one of the most respected, most experienced, best staffed, and best equipped‘ firms in the market. This is complemented by good credentials in the technology space which has seen growth in mobility tech, robotics, edtech and blockchain-related work, and where partners such as John Egan and Kenneth Gordon in Boston, and Anthony McCusker in Silicon Valley hold sway. Boston-based partners Mitchell Bloom and Kingsley Taft co-chair the life sciences side of the practice, which benefits from the expertise of partners such as William Collins and the versatile and ‘highly knowledgeable‘ William Schnoor, who is ‘one of the most experienced venture/ biotech lawyers in the industry‘ and also handles technology-related matters.

Gunderson Dettmer LLP has a ‘very responsive, reasonably priced, practical and business-oriented‘ team, with lawyers who ‘always puts themselves in the position of the client in helping come to decisions and they care deeply about getting to good and practical solutions‘. The firm has established itself as a highly respected mainstay of the US emerging companies ecosystem, currently representing over 2,500 venture-backed companies in their journey from launch. The volume of deals the firm handles each year is difficult to match, with lawyers typically advising on over 1,000 financings for companies and funds respectively. The workload extends beyond the US border, with offices in Beijing and Singapore complementing offices on the East and West Coasts as well as in the Mid-West. The full-service offering includes advice on IP and technology transactions, fund formation and executive compensation, and extends to a wide range of sub-sectors within the technology and life sciences arenas. Marc Dupre and David Young lead the team from Boston and Silicon Valley respectively. Other names of note include Richard Hesp in Boston, Mike Heath in Los Angeles and the ‘responsive, friendly, and business-minded‘ Nick Harley in Ann Arbor. Silicon Valley-based founding partners Scott Dettmer and Robert Gunderson remain esteemed figures in the market.

Latham & Watkins LLP combines a domestic and international presence to provide clients with an almost unrivalled spread of expertise. This includes advice at every stage of the investment journey, from early stage startups through to SPAC combinations, M&A and IPOs. The US practice expanded with the opening of a new office in Austin, which included the recruitment from DLA Piper LLP (US) of highly rated partner Jenifer Renzenbrink Smith, who has strong connections to the local venture capital and emerging companies market. The group maintained good momentum for 2021, advising on over 420 financings with an aggregate value of more than $33.6bn. This included advice to Joby Aviation, a manufacturer of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, on a $75m investment by Uber Technologies and a subsequent $5bn SPAC combination with Reinvent Technology Partners. Benjamin Potter and John Chory (‘the best in the business‘) jointly lead the practice from Silicon Valley and Boston respectively. Boston-based Emily Taylor is ‘an absolute rockstar‘; meanwhile Mark Roeder in Silicon Valley, Cheston Larson in San Diego and Christopher Shoff in Los Angeles are all key figures within the team.

Morrison Foerster  has a ‘super capable‘ team that handles an impressive range of work. The firm represents an ever-expanding list of emerging companies from a diverse spread of sectors in the technology and life sciences spheres. Its early-stage team also benefits from strong relationships with market-leading incubators and accelerators. This is combined with an extremely good track record for advising fund investors, who leverage off the firm’s impressive cross-border reach. Relationships with global funds such as SoftBank reflect the firm’s status in this regard. Clients particularly rate Murray Indick in San Francisco, whose ‘mastery of how the business of a start up runs from the board room, to fundraising to advising on corporate matters, is just stellar‘. Indick co-chairs the group with Steve Rowles in San Diego, who has over 30 years’ experience in the market. Susan Mac Cormac in San Francisco stands out for her expertise in energy and clean technology, while Silicon Valley partners Timothy Harris and Mike Krigbaum are ‘good people who care about you as a person and your objectives‘.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has an extremely experienced domestic and global emerging companies practice that is particularly well known for its company-side advice. Clients benefit from a full-service offering that covers all the bases, including corporate finance, IP, regulatory, contentious and transactional matters. The firm regularly strikes up relationships with emerging companies at the earliest stages due to strong connections with major incubators and accelerators such as Y Combinator. Such relationships typically remain through a company’s entire life cycle, with clients such as the payments provider Stripe becoming major global players in their own right. Coupled with this is an increasing number of mandates for venture capital funds, including Coatue Management, D1 Capital Partners and Goodwater Capital. Key partners include the highly rated Amanda Galton and Annette Hurst in San Francisco; John Bautista, Harold Yu, Mitchell Zuklie and Stephen Venuto in Silicon Valley; and Josh Pollick in Santa Monica. The team continues to grow, and recently recruited up-and-coming partner Yael Perl from Fenwick & West LLP in Silicon Valley.

Hogan Lovells US LLP stands out for its impressive national and international footprint, allowing for a broad range of cross-border investment transactions. The practice is more weighted to the investor side of the venture capital spectrum, although certain offices such as Silicon Valley also have strong company client bases. The firm has good credentials on the life sciences side and represents several major venture funds and emerging companies, offering a cradle-to-grave service that goes beyond the corporate finance side. The group was boosted by the arrival of corporate partners Barry Burgdorf and Andrew Strong, from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in Houston, who both have good connections to the technology and life sciences industries. Nate Gallon and Mahvesh Qureshi co-lead the practice from Silicon Valley and Washington DC respectively, with DC-based partner Kevin Clayton also considered ‘responsive; gives thoughtful advice, is very knowledgeable and has a good sense of the market‘.

Jones Day has an ‘extremely responsive and knowledgeable team that truly understands what is going on in the market‘. The well-balanced practice represents a good mix of emerging companies and investors, with expertise across all stages of the company’s life cycle. The team is particularly active on later stage mandates, including advice on high-value financings, IPOs and mergers. The firm’s industry knowledge is equally broad, with domestic and cross-border technology, healthcare, energy and manufacturing-related deals all featuring on the agenda. Global private equity co-head Michael Earley leads the team from Chicago. An experienced team on the West Coast includes Taylor Stevens and Cameron Reese (‘a master of details‘) in San Diego, and in Silicon Valley, the ‘good humored and affable‘ Timothy Curry, who is ‘a tenacious advocate when necessary‘. Clients also single out the ‘very efficient and responsive‘ Lara Pender, who divides her time between Detroit and Silicon Valley.

King & Spalding LLP comes highly recommended by clients who describe ‘a well-oiled machine, providing efficient service and advising on the most up-to-date market practices‘. The group is firmly embedded in the emerging companies space where it represents an impressive mix of issuers and investors. In the case of the former, clients appreciate the ‘very collaborative‘ approach and for being ‘willing to work with emerging companies on fees‘. On the technology and software front, the firm has been particularly active on fintech and insurtech investments, while also retaining strong credentials in early stage life sciences and healthcare. The team is jointly led by Tom Knox in Northern Virginia, Laura Bushnell in Silicon Valley, and the ‘extremely knowledgeable, responsive, and efficient‘ Daniel Kahan  in Washington DC. Clients also rate Linda Lorenat in Silicon Valley (‘extremely knowledgeable, diligent and generally an invaluable strategic partner‘) and in Northern Virginia, Charles Katz who ‘provides excellent, pragmatic advice‘.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is a popular choice with clients, praised for its ability to offer ‘the experience of a boutique firm with the scale and depth of a global provider‘. The  bulk of the firm’s emerging business and technology practice is based on the East Coast, with highly rated practice head Steven Cohen working from Princeton. The firm has a strong emphasis on the healthcare and life sciences sectors but is active in other growth areas including ag-tech, fintech, digital and social media, software, telecoms, renewable energy, cloud-based and e-commerce companies. This encompasses advice to emerging companies and venture funds. Other key partners include Michael Conza and Julio Vega in Boston, Princeton’s Benjamin Novak (‘truly meets us where we are, gone above and beyond, and invested alongside us‘), and Jeffrey Bodle in Philadelphia, who is ‘excellent in proactively managing our corporate legal issues‘. Silicon Valley-based partner John Park is the main contact on the West Coast.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has an active emerging companies practice that is particularly busy on the company side. Issuer clients come from across a wide variety of sectors including fintech, big data and security, AI, autonomous vehicles, semiconductors and healthtech. The firm has a long track record for helping emerging companies to unicorn status and beyond. More recently it has made a push towards assisting businesses from underrepresented communities, and established the Black-Owned Startup Support Lab in late 2020, which has provided free advice to over 30 startups since its inception. The highly experienced Stanley Pierson leads the emerging growth and venture capital group from Silicon Valley. Other key members include Ronald Fleming, who leads the New York side of the practice, San Francisco-based M&A co-chair Justin Hovey, San Diego partner Christian Salaman, Silicon Valley’s Allison Leopold Tilley and Jorge del Calvo, and Steven Kaplan in Washington DC.

Choate, Hall & Stewart has an experienced investor-side practice that represents several highly active venture and private equity funds. The Boston-based firm has good credentials in a range of life sciences and technology-related sectors including big data and analytics, cloud computing, fintech, cybersecurity, health, robotics, and the internet of things. Fund clients, which include 5AM Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Vertical Venture Partners, also benefit from the firm’s transactional expertise, where ‘the team’s experience, responsiveness, flexibility, practical advice and collaborative nature are beyond compare‘. The ‘terrific‘ practice head Brian Goldstein ‘makes the cross department interactions fairly seamless‘, particularly with key areas such as IP, where partner Charles Lyon is valued for his ‘ability to take complex science and distill it to allow us to make important business and IP decisions‘. Corporate partner Tobin Sullivan is also highly active in this space.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP has an impressive venture capital and emerging companies practice working out of its California offices. The firm is less focused on advising multiple early stage companies, instead taking a more selective approach to mid-to-late stage investments. This includes domestic and cross-border transactions, where it represents investors and issuers on major financings, M&As and capital markets exits. The versatile group has expertise across a range of industries, including pharmaceutical, media, entertainment, technology, telecoms and gaming, and has recently been busy in growing niches such as ad-tech, and social and mobile gaming. Key partners include Ryan Murr, who co-heads the firm’s San Francisco office, and fellow San Francisco partner Stewart McDowell, who co-chairs the firm’s capital markets practice group.

Greenberg Traurig LLP has an expanding and versatile venture capital group that is praised for its ‘cross functional work‘ and ability to field ‘very experienced‘ points of contact. The life sciences side of the practice was boosted with a team of lawyers from the Boston office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, including Prashant Girinath and David Harburger, who regularly assist emerging companies on the IP transactional side. Other key partners  include Boston-based co-heads Chinh Pham and Emily Ladd-Kravitz, who have expertise in a wide range of emerging technologies. Robert Grossman, who chairs the Israel practice group and divides his time between Miami and Tel Aviv, has ‘great understanding of deal dynamics‘. Miami corporate partner John Owens is a ‘go-to on corporate work‘. Corporate partners Bradley Jacobson in Boston and Barbara Jones in Los Angeles are other names to note.

Katten has a comprehensive practice that represents a mix of entrepreneurs and issuer companies, as well as venture and hedge funds, corporate investors and family offices. The full-service offering includes advice on initial company launches and seed capital, through to larger value equity and debt financings, M&A and IPOs. The firm has expertise across many industries, with a particular emphasis on the technology sector. Matthew Brown, head of entrepreneurial ventures, leads the team from Chicago, where the majority of the practice is based. Fellow partner Jeffrey Patt has an extremely active presence in the market and over 30 years’ experience representing investors and growth companies. Other names to note include M&A and private equity co-head Christopher Atkinson, David Kravitz in New York, and Daniel Render in Los Angeles, who also has a good track record advising on sports-related ventures.

Perkins Coie LLP has a well regarded team that is commended for its ‘knowledge of the VC investing environment to help us focus on what matters, protect the company, and close transactions‘. The firm is particularly active in the technology sector with a strong track record in diverse areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, clean technology, fintech and autonomous vehicles. The firm has expanded beyond its Seattle origins, including a new office in Austin, and the emerging companies team is led out of Silicon Valley by Troy Foster and Matt Oshinsky. Michael Glaser and Fiona Brophy in San Francisco are other names to note. Clients also praise Lee Schindler in Seattle for having ‘a way of always staying on top of the issues‘.