People

Stephen Venuto パートナー

シリコン・バレー; サンフランシスコ

The Daily Journal has named Stephen one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California (chosen regardless of specialty). Stephen was Facebook’s first lawyer and has advised many other leading companies at critical stages of their lifecycles including Anthropic AI, Asana, Instagram, Pinterest, Warby Parker and WETA Digital.

Stephen cares about the teams he counsels and thrives on providing practical business advice. When The American Lawyer named Stephen “Dealmaker of the Year”, it recognized his corporate work and representation of Instagram in its sale to Facebook and quoted a prominent Instagram board member as saying that he “is an outstanding lawyer, but he’s also an outstanding business partner . . . someone who cares about everybody [who's] involved in a company.” In addition to naming Stephen to its list of Top 100 Lawyers in California, The Daily Journal has named him to its Top Emerging Companies Lawyers list, and Chambers and Partners has recognized and ranked Stephen in two separate categories for several consecutive years.

Numerous standout technology companies and their founders have turned to Stephen for corporate representation at all stages of their life-cycles. Most of his counseling is with technology disruptive clients in fast-growth fields such as artificial intelligence, information technology, metaverse, fin-tech, SaaS, gaming, media and entertainment. His recent prominent counseling includes companies in the artificial intelligence,  metaverse and gaming spaces. For example he recently advised WETA Digital in its metaverse and gaming related asset sale to Unity Software (for $1.6 billion)  and has advised Anthropic AI from formation through each of its financings.

James Wigginton オブ・カウンセル

サクラメント; シリコン・バレー

Blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies have caused business leaders to rethink the way we own, govern and share the benefits of enterprise. James advises entrepreneurs and investors as they pioneer new, more inclusive operating models in professional sports, finance, social media, gaming, agriculture and other industries.

To do this, James draws from two complementary sources of experience. The first is his practice assisting public companies, private equity funds and venture capitalists with registered and unregistered securities offerings; high-stakes M&A; corporate governance; and Exchange Act reporting. The second is his experience advising clients outside the Wall Street and Silicon Valley mainstream, including cooperatives, limited cooperative associations and nonprofit corporations. By combining these two worlds, James is able to offer unexpected legal solutions to blockchain-based companies as they seek venture financing, design and issue tokens, and select business entities for DAOs.

James also appreciates the inherently global reach of blockchain and cryptocurrency. After law school, he spent two years clerking for the US Court of International Trade in New York City. Before that, James lived for two years in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Mariupol. James is fluent in Russian and maintains ties with his friends in the war zone.

Mike Yang パートナー

Santa Monica

Mike's practice focuses on the representation of U.S. and international public and private high technology companies, as well as executives, management teams and founders with compensation and employee benefits issues in the context of M&A transactions, spin-offs, venture capital financings and IPOs.

Mike also advises on day-to-day tax, employment, accounting and securities law issues in connection with the design, administration and implementation of executive compensation and equity compensation arrangements, including employment agreements, severance arrangements, change in control carve-out plans, stock option plans and employee stock purchase plans with a particular focus on Code Sections 409A, 280G and 162(m). In addition, he advises on nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements, tax-qualified retirement plans and welfare benefit plans.

Prior to practicing law, Mike was a Certified Public Accountant with Ernst & Young.

ナタニエル ・ レイゼンバーグ マネージング・アソシエイト

New York

銀行、ブロックチェーン取引所、暗号通貨発行会社、金融機関、テクノロジー企業、送金業者、オンラインゲームプラットフォーム、決済処理業者、プライベートエクイティ企業の相談役を務めており、主な業務には、マネーロンダリング防止、データ収集と処理、内部調査とリスク評価、送金業者ライセンス、ブロックチェーントークンオファリング、M&A、送金業者ライセンス、ベンチャーキャピタル融資活動、一般企業法務が含まれる。

ロースクール卒業後、日本でリーガルテック企業を共同設立し、初期の機械学習モデルや初期製品提供に使用するフロントエンドを開発。その後、上記開発経験を活かし、ブロックチェーンや機械学習のベンチャー企業とのコミュニケーションやアドバイスの提供を行っている。また、中国の北京大学で講義を行い、憲法や米国法原則の入門クラスを担当した経験もあり、中国市場に対する独自の視点を持っている。

オリックのニューヨーク・オフィス入所以前は、東京オフィスでアソシエイトを務めていた。また、ロースクール入学以前に、カナダ陸軍で4年間、装甲偵察を任務とする下士官兵として勤務した経験も有する。