LONDON – LawFuel – Legal Announcements – Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced today that Richard Eaton, Chris Grew and Struan Penwarden have joined the firm as partners in its Corporate Group in London, together with three associates who work with them. The new partners join Orrick from Heller Ehrman, where they represented nearly a hundred venture-backed European emerging growth companies, as well as Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and main-listed emerging growth companies. They also represent numerous U.S. companies with strategic operations in Europe, and U.S. and European venture capital funds and investment banks. The three partners have been top ranked for Venture Capital in the U.K. Legal 500 for the last three years.
“Technology and venture capital have become increasingly global and we view Europe as a critical part of Orrick’s strategy of providing an international network of resources and expertise to our clients,” said Don Keller, head of Orrick’s Corporate practice. “The addition of Richard, Chris and Struan to our London office is a critical step in the expansion of our emerging companies practice worldwide. Their broad experience and in-depth understanding of all stages of development in high technology and other emerging growth businesses will greatly contribute to our already solid corporate platform. As a result of this expansion, we have created a leading practice, bringing European opportunities to our U.S. clients and U.S. opportunities to our European clients.”
“This reflects our continuing efforts to attract leading lawyers in key market sectors,” said Martin Bartlam, partner-in-charge of Orrick’s London office. “The addition of these talented lawyers will give a significant boost to our corporate practice and will assist us in our ongoing efforts of building our emerging companies, capital markets and M&A practices.”
“Combining Orrick’s top-tier emerging company practice on the West Coast with our European leading practice will help to create a global platform from which we can serve all of our clients, from venture capital-backed to FTSE 100 companies,” said Richard Eaton. “We are extremely excited about the opportunities that this provides us.”
Richard Eaton’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, securities law, including public and private securities offerings, as well as a range of international matters, including public and private placements for U.K. issuers and inward- and outward-bound acquisition transactions. Richard’s clients include companies engaged in a wide range of technology sectors, such as semiconductor design, alternative energy and cleantech, software and security products.
Richard passed the Law Society Finals in 1987, having studied at the College of Law of England and Wales, Guildford, and received his B.A., with honors, from the City of London Polytechnic in 1985.
Chris Grew advises technology companies in venture capital transactions and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. He regularly advises computer software and hardware companies with respect to their international business operations and transactions, as well as venture capital firms and other financial intermediaries that serve technology companies.
Chris received his M.A., with honors, from the University of Cambridge, Downing College in 1988 and his B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1984.
Struan Penwarden focuses his practice on domestic and international corporate transactions involving mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financings, both equity and debt, and public offerings. His clients include a variety of national and international public and private companies engaged in a wide range of technology sectors, including semiconductors, telecommunications equipment, software and biotechnology.
Struan passed the Law Society Finals at the College of Law of England and Wales, Guildford in 1993 and obtained his BSc in Economics, with honors, from Cardiff University in 1990. He also obtained the Corporate Finance Qualification from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 2007.
About Orrick
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is a global law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers in North America, Europe and Asia. The firm focuses on litigation, complex and novel finance and innovative corporate transactions. Orrick clients include Fortune 100 companies, major industrial and financial corporations, commercial and investment banks, high-growth companies, governmental entities, start-ups and individuals. The firm’s 21 offices are located in Beijing, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Moscow, New York, Orange County, Pacific Northwest, Paris, Rome, Sacramento, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Taipei, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.
Contact
For more information, please contact us by e-mail at pr@orrick.com or telephone at
415-773-5972 for West Coast & Asia Communications or 212-506-5160 for East Coast & Europe Communications.
