Fenwick’s Ran Ben-Tzur and Julia Ushakova-Stein Recognized as Rising Stars
Law360 has honored Fenwick capital markets partner Ran Ben-Tzur and senior tax associate Julia Ushakova-Stein on its 2020 Rising Stars list. The list recognizes lawyers under 40 whose legal accomplishments transcend their age.
Ran Ben-Tzur: Guiding Leading Technology Companies Before, During and After Their Initial Public Offerings
Named among just five Capital Markets Rising Stars, Ran provides strategic counseling on a wide range of corporate matters to high-growth private and public technology companies, primarily in the consumer, software, social networking, internet and mobility sectors. He has extensive experience in capital markets transactions and has represented numerous issuers and underwriters on initial public offerings and other equity and debt offerings, as well as corporate governance, SEC compliance and general corporate matters.
“Ran has worked on both sides of the table in high-profile initial public offerings, advising Peloton in its $1.2 billion IPO and the underwriters for Cloudflare's $600 million debut, earning him a spot among the capital markets law practitioners under age 40,” Law360 wrote in its profile of Ran.
In addition to his work on Peloton and Cloudflare’s IPOs, over the course of his career, Ran has represented a number of leading technology companies in their IPOs, including Facebook’s $16 billion IPO, Fitbit’s $732 million IPO, Upwork’s $215.2 million IPO, Zuora’s $177.1 million IPO and Alteryx’s $126 million IPO. His underwriter-side initial public offerings include Impinj, New Relic, Nutanix, Rocket Fuel and Veeva Systems.
“I really enjoy working with both underwriters and issuers,” Ran told Law360. “It helps inform how I think about representing each side of the transaction when I'm doing a specific deal.”
Commenting on the continuing evolution of the capital markets landscape, Ran told Law360 that companies are becoming increasingly creative with their go-public strategies. In response, underwriters are also starting to provide more flexibility around standard terms such as lockups.
“There's just a lot of evolution and customization and specificity in the offering process,” he said. “We're always trying to be creative and flexible in terms of how we work with our clients.”
Julia Ushakova-Stein: Advising Startups to Fortune 500s on Complex Tax Matters
Honored as one of only five Tax Rising Stars, Julia advises clients 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. She 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.
“Because Julia's practice focuses on international tax controversies, tax planning and M&A deals, she has been able to navigate some clients through all phases of tax law, and provide a broader perspective to those clients which she may work with on a specific issue,” Law360 reported in its profile of Julia, noting her diverse skillset as a major factor that earned her a spot on the Rising Stars list.
Julia’s notable work includes representing Facebook in several transactions, including its $5.7 billion investment for a 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms, the biggest telecom operator in India and a subsidiary of multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries. She also represented Github in its $7.5 billion acquisition by Microsoft.
“Those types of transactions I absolutely love because they're fast-paced, they allow me to use my negotiating and analytical skills, and they give me the opportunity to work with nontax professionals,” Julia told Law360, speaking about handling complex, cross-border deals for leading tech innovators.
Julia has also helped secure several tax litigation victories for clients, including serving as counsel in the successfully settled Conversant et al. v. Commissioner, and serving on the trial team that was successful in Analog Devices & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner.
Discussing recent developments in the tax space, Julia highlighted the dramatic spike in new regulations. “Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, yes, we'd have regulation packages, but right now we're getting hundreds of pages of reg packages a month on top of the constantly changing laws outside the U.S.,” she said, noting that she finds it satisfying and motivating to help synthesize the myriad of tax laws and regulations for her clients, empowering them to achieve their business goals.
The full Rising Star list is available through Law360 (subscription required). Also see Ran and Julia’s full profiles.