May 4, 2013

Cooley welcomes new partners

Cooley LLP hosted a welcome event for its new corporate partners, Kevin K. Rooney and Louis Lehot, on April 25 in the courtyard of its Palo Alto headquarters. The lawyers joined in March from Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Palo Alto. At Sheppard Mullin, Lehot led the global capital markets and public company mergers and acquisitions practices. Rooney chaired the emerging growth, venture capital and technology mergers and acquisitions practices. Their move to Cooley followed that of C. Thomas Hopkins, who was co-chair of Sheppard Mullin's corporate practice before he jumped to Cooley's Santa Monica office. Hopkins was joined by technology transactions partner Ian D. Smith in his move. Among Hopkins and Lehot's clients are Glendale-based LegalZoom.com Inc., which has recently raised venture capital financing and prepared an initial public offering. Rooney's clients include WeVideo Inc. and venture capital firm NEA. He also serves as an adviser to entrepreneurs at Bay Area startup accelerators such as Kicklabs and Communitech's Hyperdrive. At least 100 Cooley lawyers and current and prospective clients came to wish Rooney and Lehot well, including representatives from venture capital firms, startups, accounting firms and other companies. - Jill Patton