Mountain View, CA (January 18, 2012)– Fenwick & West corporate partners Gregory Roussel and Kris Withrow have been selected as two of the top 20 lawyers in California under the age of 40 by the Daily Journal. The annual list honors the best and brightest in California's legal industry. Fenwick was the only firm to have two of its attorneys on the list this year.
Roussel and Withrow were recognized for their outstanding transactional work and track record in recent years, particularly in the M&A space. A sign of the social media times, the Daily Journal specifically noted Roussel's work for Facebook and Withrow’s work for Twitter, two social media giants who continually rely on Roussel and Withrow’s legal expertise to guide the companies through numerous acquisitions.
As lead mergers-and-acquisitions counsel for Facebook, Greg Roussel is perfecting a talent acquisition program to help them remain competitive and improve the user experience. His recent acquisitions include Somo Enterprises, Push Pop Press, Sofa, Snaptu, Beluga, Zenbe, Gowalla, and Drop.io. With "the ongoing battle for talent being waged in Silicon Valley today," Roussel expedites and uniquely structures each deal to ensure the necessary assets are obtained and the teams are motivated to join Facebook long term.
Kris Withrow saw considerable acquisition activity in 2011, completing nearly 20 deals. Among his recent accomplishments, he represented Quidsi Inc. in its acquisition for $545M (with assumption of debt) by Amazon.com, Medicity in its $500M acquisition by Aetna; Force10 Networks Inc. in its acquisition by Dell; Auditude Inc. in its acquisition by Adobe; and IntoNow Inc. in its acquisition by Yahoo! He also represented Cisco, Twitter, Yousendit and GoPro in acquisitions.
Withrow was also cited for managing "more than 100 completed domestic and foreign acquisitions, asset purchases and divestitures, totaling more than $20 billion in aggregate transaction value".
The "20 Under 40" listing is a special report that appears as a supplement to the Daily Journal.
About Fenwick & West
Established in 1972, Fenwick & West works closely with clean technology, life sciences and other technology companies that are changing the world through innovation. The firm has more than 30 years of experience crafting innovative solutions to the business challenges that arise at the intersection of technology and the law. Fenwick & West clients, who range from start-up ventures to global enterprises, value our attorneys' deep industry experience and understanding of their technologies.