Andrews Kurth is a leading Texas-based law firm for entrepreneurs, public and private emerging growth companies and venture capital and private equity firms.  Our Technology and Emerging Company Group is a dedicated team of attorneys in five technology centers around the United States providing focused representation to numerous public and private emerging growth companies and entrepreneurs as well as the venture capital and private equity firms that fund them.  We take pride in having a practical, business-like approach to advising our clients and we share their entrepreneurial spirit and drive.  Our driven client service teams combine relevant experience with an understanding of a client’s business and markets to provide efficient, cost-effective legal services and creative solutions with an outstanding degree of responsiveness.

Network and Relationships

Our relationships are a valuable resource for our clients.  We have extensive relationships with venture capital and private equity funds, hedge funds and other sources of capital, many of which have provided funding for our clients.  We also have strong ties with a number of investment banks, public and private technology and energy companies, and universities.  These relationships allow us to help design financing strategies for our emerging company clients, including providing targeted referrals to investors and companies.  We work hard to make our relationships work for our clients.

Experience, Resources and Scale

We are a full-service firm that has the experience and resources to scale with our clients as they grow and expand in domestic and global markets.  Attorneys in our Technology and Emerging Companies Group regularly advise clients on seed stage and late-stage funding, initial public offerings, PIPE and 144A transactions, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property and licensing matters, and employee compensation and benefits.

Corporate Counseling and Securities

We counsel clients on the formation and initial capitalization of their companies and provide a comprehensive formation package that allows our clients to hit the ground running.  We guide clients through all stages and types of public and private financings, from early seed and angel investments through later stage financing and public offerings. Furthermore, we use our relationships with institutional and angel investors to assist clients in obtaining funds.  We are the only Texas-based firm that was recognized by Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst as one of the most active law firms in the country for private equity and venture capital transactions in recent years. 

Capital Markets Leadership

Andrews Kurth regularly ranks among the nation’s top law firms representing issuers and underwriters in public securities offerings.  In one recent year, we were involved in more than 60 public offerings that helped our clients raise nearly $30 billion in capital.  In recent years we have consistently ranked in the top 15 law firms in terms of the number of initial public offerings in which we have been involved, representing either the issuer or the underwriters.  We are a leader in handling public debt offerings for companies of all sizes and most of the nation’s major investment banks. Many large issuers are also among our clients.  Whether a client’s financing requires convertible debt, hybrid debt-equity securities, or preferred or common equity; we have the resources, expertise and the relationships to help clients manage the transition from private to public enterprise and secure the funding they need to scale their businesses.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Since 1999, Andrews Kurth has represented acquiring companies, targets and investment advisors in numerous business combinations, with an aggregate value of more than $130 billion.  Our experience expands from mergers and acquisitions, stock and asset purchases, to tender offers, proxy fights, auctions and spin-offs.  Whatever the needs of our clients, our lawyers routinely advise them on defensive and offensive takeover measures, tax structuring and antitrust issues, and the executive compensation and employment issues that business combinations typically involve.

Intellectual Property and Licensing 

Andrews Kurth helps clients in virtually all industries obtain, protect and enforce patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights.  We also negotiate and draft cooperative research and development agreements as well as other forms of joint ventures and strategic alliances involving the development, licensing or transfer of intellectual property.  Our IP lawyers have strong technical backgrounds and extensive legal and commercial experience as in-house IP counsel, patent and trademark examiners, engineers, or scientists.

Executive Compensation and Benefits

We routinely assist clients with designing equity incentive plans, employment agreement negotiation, executive tax planning, securities law compliance plans, merger and acquisition compensation planning and negotiation, and corporate governance regarding executive compensation and equity incentive plans.

Industry Breadth

Our Technology and Emerging Company Group has experience in a number of technology sectors, including: