Freshfields has developed its brand new Silicon Valley office with the hire of former Wilson Sonsini partner and ‘super lawyer’ in Northern California, Brandon M Gantus.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP today officially opened the doors of its new 40,000-square-foot office at 855 Main in downtown Redwood City last June.
The firm’s press release is below.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP announced today that Brandon M. Gantus has joined the firm’s US employee benefits & executive compensation practice as a partner based in Silicon Valley.
Mr. Gantus’s practice focuses on the representation of companies in their compensation and employee benefits matters, with a particular focus on M&A and capital markets transactions. He advises clients on the design, drafting and administration of equity-based compensation programs; employment, consulting, retention, severance, change-in-control and deferred compensation arrangements; and the associated tax, accounting, ERISA and securities law implications. He also regularly assists public and private companies with governance and compliance matters.
“As transactions continue to grow in scope and complexity, it is critical to provide the high-level executive compensation and employee benefits advice that matches our corporate clients’ needs,” said Lori Goodman, co-head of Freshfields’ US employee benefits and executive compensation practice.
“Brandon’s deep experience with both emerging private and public companies will be an asset to our clients and the firm, perfectly complementing the skills of our existing team,” added US employee benefits and executive compensation practice co-head Nicole Foster.
Mr. Gantus has played a key role in advising on the employee benefits and compensation aspects of many significant transactions over the last several years, including:
- Pharmacyclics’s $21bn acquisition by AbbVie
- CA Technologies’s $18.9bn acquisition by Broadcom
- AppDynamics’s $3.7bn acquisition by Cisco Systems
- NetSuite’s $9.3bn acquisition by Oracle
- Rackspace’s $4.3bn acquisition by Apollo Global Management
- Regular representations of DoorDash, Google, Salesforce, and GoDaddy in key acquisitions
- IPOs for more than twenty companies, including Samsara, DoorDash, Lyft, Block, GoDaddy and Twitter
Mr. Gantus previously has been recognized as a Rising Star by Northern California Super Lawyers.
“Brandon is a key addition to the firm’s corporate practice and office in Silicon Valley. It’s hard to think of a substantive area of law that matters more to tech and life sciences clients than employee benefits and compensation. His clients span the ecosystem, from emerging private companies to some of the largest and most acquisitive public companies in the world,” said Head of US Capital Markets and Freshfields’ US Managing Partner Sarah Solum.
“Freshfields’ global platform offers unparalleled compensation and benefits expertise for a global workforce. I’m delighted to be joining Freshfields’ industry-leading team of lawyers to continue building on the firm’s successes and accelerate its growth in the US and worldwide. I look forward to leveraging my broad experience on compensation and benefits matters to provide the highest level of service across our global client community,” said Mr. Gantus.
