April.11.2018
Orrick and the NYU Tandon Future Labs are pleased to announce an agreement that will offer exclusive legal counsel to the companies in the Future Labs’ network of incubators and accelerators. Orrick, which has a market leading tech companies practice, will also provide services to program graduates, which now number more than 120 companies across the tech ecosystem.
As part of this collaboration, Orrick has established a SoHo presence at 137 Varick Street to better serve founders, companies and investors in the lower Manhattan tech hub. In addition, the firm will offer a fellowship for an NYU Law School student to work for a summer with the Orrick team at the Future Labs.
Under the direction of Orrick partner Pete Fusco, who has supported the Future Labs since 2009, the firm will advise Future Labs companies on the full range of legal issues tech companies face. Orrick will provide the Future Labs’ current companies with access to free legal counseling through an on-site Orrick presence at each of the four Future Labs locations (Data (West Village), Digital (DUMBO), Urban (Brooklyn MetroTech) and Veterans (Brooklyn Industry City)). The firm will expand Orrick’s Total Access program to the Future Labs community, including Orrick’s Startup Toolkit, a suite of tools and resources for startup founders and companies, as well as educational programming and events. With a presence at the Future Labs, Orrick will be able to provide on-location support for the Future Labs companies and the NYC tech community more broadly.
“The high success rate of companies in our Future Labs is due in large part to intensive mentoring, and few services are more important to startups in the tech sector than the protection of their intellectual property,” said NYU Tandon Dean Katepalli R. Sreenivasan. “Orrick’s expertise in this arena, as well as its experience in other issues important to startups, will help Future Labs companies sustain a survival rate of nearly 90 percent, far exceeding the typical startup success rate.”
"We’re excited to welcome Orrick as our exclusive legal counsel. The firm’s expertise in the emerging company space is unsurpassed and will be a great asset to companies in our programs,” added Steven Kuyan, Managing Director of the Future Labs.
“New York's startup economy is one of the most exciting in the country, and NYU’s Future Labs is at the epicenter,” said Mitch Zuklie, Orrick’s Chairman. "We are thrilled to be growing our tech companies practice in New York under Pete's leadership and to build upon the incredible relationship he has built with the Future Labs community."
“The partnership with the Future Labs provides us with unique access into an ever-growing market within New York’s entrepreneurial ecosystem – allowing us to counsel and mentor the next generation of emerging companies at the beginning of their life cycles,” added Pete, who heads Orrick’s New York Technology Companies Group. “Orrick has over 200 lawyers in midtown Manhattan. Expanding that presence into SoHo just makes great sense for the tech companies, founders and investors we serve, and to be doing it at 137 Varick just makes great sense for our collaboration with Future Labs.”
The Orrick Future Labs fellowship will provide a law student with an immersive experience in the firm’s tech companies practice. “We get incredible interest from law students in our tech practice, and we think the opportunity to spend a summer on-site working with Future Labs companies will be exciting and incredibly valuable,” said Orrick’s Chief Talent Officer Siobhan Handley.