Private Equity US West Coast

Private equity investors are becoming increasingly international in their focus, and global competition over premium investments is fierce. Goodwin’s accomplished Private Equity team has a broad range of experience in advising PE and venture capital funds, mezzanine providers, debt funds and banks on private equity transactions worldwide. Having worked together for a number of years, our team has now been supplemented by dedicated high profile PE and leveraged finance lawyers in our Frankfurt office, enabling us to provide high quality services across jurisdictions and disciplines to international as well as domestic financial investors and financing parties.

Together, we have extensive experience spanning all areas of private equity and corporate M+A, with an emphasis on middle market private transactions. Our lawyers represent early through to late stage investors and companies, as well as lenders and financial institutions, covering the full life cycle of their investments and financings from acquisition to exit.

Our team of multilingual lawyers, qualified in the PRC, Hong Kong, and the U.S., offers skilled cross-border legal advice within a broad range of sectors and practice areas. Our comprehensive Hong Kong corporate practice is focused on private equity, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, fund formation, joint ventures and strategic transactions. We have been recognized as a leading law firm in India by the India Business Journal since 2008 and we have received numerous “Deals of the Year” awards by the China Business Law Journal. We are also ranked for outstanding corporate/M&A expertise in India and China by Chambers Global.

Goodwin’s greater China team of multilingual lawyers qualified in the PRC, UK, Hong Kong, and the U.S. offers skilled cross-border legal advice within a broad range of sectors and practice areas.

Our comprehensive China practice is focused on capital markets and securities (U.S. listings, GEM and H-shares or capital raisings), mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic transactions, private equity, venture capital, fund formation, hospitality and real estate, and regulatory compliance.

Goodwin’s Debt Finance practice represents borrowers, private equity sponsors and lenders in a broad range of financing transactions. Our Debt Finance lawyers work closely with the firm's Private Equity, Technology Companies, Capital Markets, and Financial Restructuring groups structuring, negotiating and documenting domestic and cross-border debt financing arrangements, including secured and unsecured senior, mezzanine and subordinated debt facilities, acquisition-financing transactions, working capital facilities, as well as loan workouts and restructurings.

On the borrower side, Goodwin represents private equity firms and their portfolio companies, leading public and private companies and start-ups in a wide variety of business industries. On the lender side, Goodwin’s clients include domestic and international banks, insurance and finance companies, mezzanine lenders, business development companies and other institutional investors.

Succeeding in the life sciences industry is as much about strategy and execution as it is about research and development. In this highly competitive business, you need more than the best and brightest ideas – you need a legal and strategic partner that understands the challenges of securing funding, safeguarding intellectual property, establishing partnerships, bringing new products to market, opening up new revenue streams, and protecting existing product lines.

Lawyers in our life sciences practice are deeply experienced in corporate governance, financing and M&A transactions, collaborations and licensing, regulatory matters, and intellectual property law. As part of our interdisciplinary approach, we also collaborate with attorneys in our patent litigation, products liability, employment and tax practices to protect client interests and to advocate on their behalf.

With a full service team of highly experienced lawyers resident in key life sciences hubs, our team helps clients find the strategic paths that foster growth and minimize risk across all phases of the corporate life cycle. Motivated by the knowledge that the work that we do with you is improving people’s lives, we serve as an extension of your team so you can focus on your core business.

Few firms offer the breadth of practice that we bring to private fund managers and investors. We understand the issues specific to different types of funds and offer advice that comes from a wealth of experience across industries and global markets. Our lawyers work in all the key industries, including, real estate, venture capital, private equity, infrastructure, natural resources and hedge funds, raising funds worldwide that range from less than $50 million to over $12 billion. The depth and breadth of our experience allows us to provide our clients with the most current market terms for their industry as well as access to cutting-edge developments across industries.

We handle every stage in the life cycle, and we provide fund managers with the sophisticated level of counsel required for forming, advising and operating private investment funds. Within fund formation, we take a creative approach, starting with not only the specific objectives of a particular fund but also an assessment of how the fund fits within the client’s broader business goals. We then help fund managers determine the best structure and terms to achieve those goals.

As a growing technology company, your prospects are exciting and your challenges are unique – from securing funding, protecting IP, and navigating the regulatory environment, to differentiating yourself in the marketplace, managing customer acquisition and scaling your business. We get it. We are proud to bring a comprehensive, coordinated approach that interconnects business, new technologies and the law.

At Goodwin, we share your entrepreneurial spirit. We developed Founders Workbench, a free online legal advisory resource to help entrepreneurs navigate many of the legal and organizational challenges commonly faced by start-ups and emerging companies. We partner with you to grow your business and realize your potential more effectively – with a combination of legal experience and business savvy that can scale with management teams from the earliest stages of development through mature public company. We support clients at all stages of the corporate life cycle with legal advisory related to company formation, IP protection, licensing, commercial agreements and venture financing to IPOs, M&A, corporate governance, board matters and more.

With 180+ lawyers dedicated to the industry, we have one of the largest and most recognized technology practices in the United States. Consistently rated in the top five most active of all law firms for venture capital, IPOs and M&A, we draw on our deep experience and network of clients and investors to provide the most effective and efficient counsel for today’s emerging companies.