Fenwick today announced the election of 14 lawyers to its partnership, effective January 1, 2021.
“This very talented class has meaningfully contributed to the exceptional growth in our technology and life science-focused practice, and each member is a strong contributor to our collaborative culture,” said Fenwick chair Richard Dickson. “The diversity of our new partners reflects the investments we have made in building a strong pipeline of women and diverse lawyers. The breadth of their experience reflects our key market strengths and positions us to extend our success for years to come.”
Over half of the newly elected partners are women, and several members of the partnership class are also members of underrepresented groups, making it one of the most diverse in firm history.
The new partners, who are based in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, New York and Santa Monica, are:
Allison Cooper, Corporate, New York: Allison advises on a broad variety of corporate matters to support clients in the technology and life sciences industries. Her practice includes the formation of new startup companies, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions and public offerings. She also represents and advises leading incubators, angel investors, venture capitalists and strategic investors investing in technology companies.
Katherine Duncan, Corporate, Seattle: Kat advises emerging and high-growth companies on a wide variety of issues, including venture capital financings, corporate governance, equity and employment issues and licensing and commercial matters. She also counsels public companies on governance, offerings and SEC compliance matters.
Julia Forbess, Corporate, San Francisco: Julia represents public technology and biotech companies in a variety of transactional matters, with an emphasis on initial public offerings and follow-on offerings in equity and convertible debt, including 144A offerings. She also represents public companies in SEC regulatory compliance and corporate governance matters.
Lara Foster, Corporate, Mountain View: Lara provides strategic counseling to technology and life sciences companies that range from newly formed startup teams to mature publicly traded companies as well as venture capital firms. Her experience spans a wide variety of corporate matters, including venture capital financings, debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, initial and follow-on public offerings, SEC compliance and corporate governance.
Patrick Grilli, Corporate, Mountain View: Patrick provides strategic advice to emerging growth technology companies throughout their development, including related to initial formation and funding, venture capital financings, equity and employee compensation, complex transactions and restructurings, and corporate governance. He has deep experience in the area of compensation as it relates to “talent” acquisition and retention, which is a significant challenge facing all technology and life science companies in Silicon Valley and beyond.
Anthony (Toney) Jacobson, Intellectual Property, Mountain View: Toney develops custom, proactive IP strategies to address the specific needs and challenges facing his clients, which range from early stage startups to Fortune 500 companies. He specializes in robotics, machine learning, autonomous vehicles, and the software that powers these fields. His practice further involves counseling clients in IP protection and enforcement matters, developing internal patent programs for companies, and growing/maintaining portfolios ranging from fewer than five patent assets to more than a thousand.
Mark Jansen, Intellectual Property, Mountain View and New York: Mark works with some of the world’s best-known tech brands to develop worldwide branding strategies, including helping his clients select, develop, expand and protect their valuable IP assets. With a focus on delivering creative and practical business-focused advice, Mark counsels clients in connection with everything from complex trademark acquisitions and multijurisdictional disputes, to global portfolio management, licensing, anti-counterfeiting strategy, and developing domain name portfolios.
Thomas Kang, Corporate, Santa Monica and Mountain View: Thomas concentrates his practice on strategic and practical business counseling for technology and life sciences companies, as well as venture capital firms, in a wide variety of corporate transactions, including venture capital financings, debt financings, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions and corporate reorganizations.
Molly Melcher, Litigation, San Francisco: Molly focuses her practice on complex commercial, privacy and intellectual property litigation, counseling and investigations for technology-based companies. She has handled federal and state trial court cases and appeals relating to privacy, data breach, TCPA, EFTA, CFAA, unfair competition, false advertising, IP, fraud and warranty issues, with a particular emphasis on consumer class actions.
Laura Moran, Litigation, New York: Laura represents clients, primarily life sciences companies, in patent disputes. She is experienced in complex litigation, including Hatch-Waxman litigation, inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Office, arbitration work involving license disputes, intellectual property due diligence, and other patent-related investigations and disputes. Laura maintains an active pro bono practice and has represented clients in family and matrimonial proceedings.
Ravi Ranganath, Litigation, Mountain View: Ravi focuses his practice on litigation and patent litigation for high technology and life science industries and has experience with all aspects of litigation, including summary judgment, trial and appeal. He has represented clients in jurisdictions throughout the country, including the Northern District of California, Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, District of Delaware, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States International Trade Commission.
Morgan Sawchuk, Corporate, San Francisco: Morgan provides strategic counseling to emerging and high-growth technology companies ranging from newly formed startups to multibillion-dollar private companies, as well as venture capital firms and corporate venture clients. Her work spans a broad variety of industries and encompasses a broad range of corporate matters, including formations, compensation, venture capital financings, debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and corporate governance.
Joseph Schenck, Intellectual Property, San Francisco: Joseph advises companies at all stages of growth in transactions involving intellectual property and commercial contracts. Joseph has extensive experience with technology and intellectual property-related aspects of mergers and acquisitions and complex licensing agreements involving a variety of technologies and platforms.
Julia Ushakova-Stein, Tax, Mountain View: Julia advises on U.S. tax planning and tax controversy matters, with an emphasis on international tax planning (inbound and outbound), mergers and acquisitions and transfer pricing. She represents clients from a diverse set of industries and geographic areas. Julia has represented a number of Fortune 500 companies in U.S. federal income tax matters and has successfully represented clients in federal tax controversies at all levels.
About Fenwick
Fenwick provides comprehensive legal services to leading technology and life sciences companies — at every stage of their lifecycle — and the investors that partner with them. We craft innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions in areas ranging from venture capital, public offerings, joint ventures, M&A and strategic relationships, to intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, taxation, antitrust and employment and labor law. For more than four decades, Fenwick has helped some of the world's most recognized companies become and remain market leaders, and today serves clients from locations in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, New York and Santa Monica. For more information, please visit fenwick.com.