Mountain View, CA (February 10, 2015) – Fenwick & West is pleased to announce that corporate partner Michael Brown has been selected by the Daily Journal as one of the top 20 lawyers under age 40 in California. The annual list singles out lawyers for the significance of their practice and high level of client service they provide.
Brown advises technology companies and venture capital firms in mergers and acquisitions, initial and follow-on public offerings, venture capital financings, debt financings and corporate reorganizations. This past year, his work helped to advance the security, mobile app, digital health and biotech industries.
Brown told the Daily Journal that Fenwick's "team-based approach" – and the opportunity to work closely with corporate partner and former Fenwick chairman Gordon Davidson – has been instrumental in propelling his career.
Brown and Davidson co-led the firm’s representation of Uber in two $1.2 billion financings – not only the year's largest and second-largest VC investments but the second and third largest in history.
"Gordy has the capability to talk about every potential thing that could happen to one of his clients,” Brown said. “I realized that was the type of practice I would like to have.”
He added, "I want to be a strategic advisor to my clients so that whatever stage of life cycle they're at or whatever transaction they're contemplating, I can advise them on the deal."
According to the profile, "Brown did just that in 2014, co-leading not only Uber's financing but also the $475 million financing of online lodging service Airbnb Inc. and the initial public offering of biotechnology company Dermira Inc."
The Daily Journal also mentions that Brown handled Tanium Inc.'s $90 million Series E financing, the second largest amount Andreessen Horowitz has ever invested, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Tanium, a cybersecurity company, has "a really cool product that they're able as a result of this financing to move to scale much more quickly,” Brown told the Daily Journal.
As for the high-profile Uber deal, Brown said that working with a company that is "really changing the world" is "incredible to be part of."
The Daily Journal honor is the second of its kind for Brown. In 2014, he was named one of the top five technology lawyers under age 40 in the United States by Law360.
About Fenwick & West
Fenwick & West provides comprehensive legal services to ground-breaking technology and life sciences companies at every stage of their lifecycle. We craft innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions for established and emerging companies on issues 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.