John Liu and In Lee of the Charter Law Group to Join Fenwick & West’s Mountain View Office
March 13, 2008 (Mountain View, CA) – LawFuel – Fenwick & West LLP, a leading technology and life sciences law firm with offices throughout the Western Pacific States, announced today that two experienced corporate lawyers, John K. Liu and In Lee, have joined the firm as Of Counsel in its Start-ups and Venture Capital practice group. They will be resident in the Mountain View office.
Corporate Practice Group Chair Dan Winnike stated “We are excited by the potential offered by John Liu and In Lee. Fenwick & West has a significant client base throughout the Pacific Rim, as well as many domestically-based and international clients who work throughout Asia. We had been aware of the Charter Law Group for some time now, and when the opportunity arose to add their founding partners, we acted immediately. Not only do John and In have significant experience in serving transpacific clients, but John has notable intellectual property experience that makes him particularly attractive to technology clients. And In’s background and work with start-up and emerging growth companies makes him ideal for our start-ups and venture capital group.”
China Practice Group Chair Andrew Luh said “We are very excited to have John and In join Fenwick. We believe their legal experience, skills and entrepreneurial mindset will accelerate our abilities to service an increasingly international client base.”
Liu and Lee are expected to make an immediate impact in serving Fenwick’s extensive base of over 300 start-up and entrepreneurial clients. Together, they were founding partners of the Charter Law Group, a corporate boutique firm representing companies and investors in general corporate matters, with a particular expertise in transpacific venture capital, business and technology transactions. At Fenwick & West, both attorneys will specialize in business transactions, debt and equity financings, intellectual property rights, securities law and mergers and acquisitions.
John Liu stated, “We chose Fenwick & West for three reasons: an extraordinary culture that is geared to the unique needs of technology and life sciences entrepreneurs; a history in Silicon Valley; and the size and collaborative environment that allows us to become as deeply involved with our clients as we need to be in order to understand their business concerns.”
John K. Liu. Mr. Liu’s practice focuses on general corporate matters, intellectual property transactions and equity and debt financings.
At Stanford University, Mr. Liu received his undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and English, a graduate degree in engineering economic systems and an honorary graduate degree from the Department of Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. He received a J. D. from the University of California at Davis.
Mr. Liu is a Member of the State Bar of California and registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a patent attorney.
In Lee. Mr. Lee’s practice focuses on counseling start-up and emerging growth companies on general corporate and intellectual property matters as well as representing clients on securities transactions including multi-jurisdiction equity and debt financings.
Mr. Lee graduated with high honors from the University of California, Berkeley, with a B. A. in political science. He received a J.D. from Columbia University where he was a Stone Scholar and the Managing Editor of The Journal of Transnational Law. Mr. Lee is admitted to the State Bars of California and New York.
Fenwick & West
Fenwick & West, with over 250 attorneys in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle and Boise, has a leading technology and life sciences practice with a national reputation and international reach. It is a full service law firm with leading practices in mergers and acquisitions, public securities offerings, venture capital financing, intellectual property prosecution and counseling, intellectual property litigation, securities litigation, tax planning and tax litigation.
Recent highlights of the firm’s practice include:
· IPOs: Ranked by American Lawyer Media and Global Securities as one of the top IPO issuers’ counsel in the United States, with top 10 rankings in multiple years
· Public Companies: Ranked by Corporate Board Member as one of the top five corporate law firms in northern California for publicly traded companies
· Corporate: Ranked by the Daily Journal as one of the top 10 Northern California leading firms for corporate work
· Mergers and Acquisitions: Ranked by MergerMarket as one of the top five technology M&A practices in the U.S., with #1 rankings in multiple quarters
· Private Equity: Ranked by Private Equity Analyst as the #8 most active U.S. law firm for private equity deals in 2006
· Trial Practice: The firm’s $74.7 million verdict in a patent jury trial on behalf of Asyst Technologies was cited by The Daily Journal as the third largest IP litigation verdict in Northern California in 2007 and by American Lawyer in April 2007 as one of the Top Five largest patent litigation verdicts during the prior 18 months. Many notable complete defense wins in litigation both before juries or in pretrial proceedings.
· Intellectual Property Litigation and Protection: Ranked by Managing Intellectual Property as one of the top five West Coast firms in both IP litigation and IP protection
· IP Litigation and Counseling: Ranked by IP Worldwide as one of the top dozen firms that Fortune 500 companies rely on for IP litigation and counseling
· Securities Litigation and Special Investigations: Successfully defended some of the largest securities class actions in the country. Handled dozens of special investigations of alleged accounting irregularities, stock option backdating and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
· Antitrust Litigation: Overturned an antitrust verdict against our client Leegin Creative Leather Products by persuading the United States Supreme Court to overrule its 96-year old precedent making vertical price agreements per se illegal.
· Tax: Honored by International Tax Review as one of the world’s leading tax planning and tax transactional practices for 2008, one of only five firms in the entire U.S. to appear in both categories; Awarded First Tier status by World Tax Review, one of only eight law firms in the U.S. to receive this rating in 2008; and recognized by International Tax Review as the Tax Litigation Firm of the Year in 2007.
· National and International Recognition: The firm’s attorneys are routinely lauded for their achievements by the American Lawyer, Best Lawyers, Chambers, Corporate Legal Times, Daily Journal, Intellectual Property Worldwide, International Tax Review, Managing Intellectual Property, Northern California Super Lawyers and Woodward White.
· Use of Technology: Awarded “Most Innovative Use of Technology by a Law Firm” in 2005 by American Lawyer Media for the firm’s proprietary electronic discovery and due diligence system
· Diversity: Ranked by Minority Law Journal as one of the top five most diverse law firms in the U.S.
For more information about Fenwick & West, see our website at www.fenwick.com.
