Vault Law Resource Center

An attorney in an EC/VC practice advises early-stage companies on every legal matter the companies face, from formation to several rounds of venture financings to a sale or an IPO. Emerging Companies attorneys are corporate generalists for the clients and often serve as “outside general counsel” for startup clients before the clients are large enough to hire in-house attorneys. They work with founders to choose the best corporate form (corporation, LLC, etc.), and draft the appropriate forms to create the company. They advise companies on how shares will be valued and divided among various stakeholders. Start-up lawyers help develop a company’s internal policies and procedures and serve as corporate secretaries. They work on the legal documentation for various rounds of private financing and ultimately help navigate an “exit event”—an IPO or acquisition. Junior lawyers often have a lot of client contact and responsibility from an early stage as startups can not generally afford to pay senior attorneys’ billing rates. The relationships with founders can often lead to an invitation to join the company when it is in a position to hire its first in-house lawyer. Startup practices are heavily concentrated in certain markets, including San Francisco and Silicon Valley, as well as Boston, New York (Silicon Alley), and increasingly in Southern California (Silicon Beach).