Louis Lehot

Corporate, M&A, Private Equity and Venture Capital Law Partner for Innovative Companies & Investors

2021 - Current

Foley is one of the leading law firms in the United States. Consistently ranked by peer-reviewed, industry guides for our top-tier practices, we were founded in 1842, and today we deploy >1200 lawyers in 25 cities across the world to accelerate business growth, from garage to global. Clients love our firm because we dig into their businesses and industries, and invest our time to get to know each of them. We compete and win with tailored strategies and solutions that deliver superior service, innovation and value. We are laser focused on companies and investors in technology, healthcare, energy and smart manufacturing. I am a partner based in the firm’s Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, where I am a member of the Private Equity & Venture Capital, M&A and Transactions Practices and the Technology, Health Care, and Energy Industry Teams. To assist my clients in realizing their objectives, I bring to bear a broad array of legal, technology and business instruments, processes and strategies, from formation to liquidity. I guide emerging private companies as they secure venture capital financing, prepare for IPO or de-SPAC, and navigate the exit. In February 2021, I joined as part of a group of a 15-person group focusing on mergers & acquisitions, capital markets, venture capital and private equity. We are now a >50 person group practicing across the world for our clients.

Attorney-at-law, lawyer, managing partner

2019 - 2021

L2 Counsel, P.C. was a boutique law firm platform for founders and entrepreneurs, innovative companies and smart investors with legal strategies and solutions that make sense. We served businesses in all stages of growth, from garage to global. We used best-in-class technology-enabled services and vendors wherever possible to be nimble and effective. We worked with technology, healthcare and clean energy companies at all stages of growth.

Advisory Board

2016 - 2019

Silicon Valley Directors’ Exchange (SVDX) has a long history in Silicon Valley. SVDX is a network of Silicon Valley corporate directors and executives. The last word in our name – Exchange – expresses our mission. We are a forum for corporate directors and executives that provides a place to meet, learn and exchange ideas and opportunities. We are particularly proud of our strategic partnership with Stanford’s Rock Center for Corporate Governance. The Rock Center is a collaborative joint venture between the School of Law and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. SVDX holds many of our meetings and events on campus and regularly hosts global thought leaders from Stanford at our programs. In addition to our regular monthly meetings, we have special “Xchange” networking events for public company directors. Xchange events are invitation-only, small gatherings of public company directors designed to promote peer-to-peer connection and conversation.

Co-Office Managing Partner, Silicon Valley, Co-Chair, Emerging Growth and Venture Capital (US)

2015 - 2019

Corporate, Securities and M&A Law Partner

2013 - 2015

While a partner at Cooley, I represented: - CHC Helicopter (NYSE: HELI) in its initial public offering and subsequent financings - CBRE (NYSE: CBG) in multiple acquisitions around the United States - Double Beam in its sale to Verifone (NYSE: VFN) - CheckALT in its acquisition of ERAS from Diebold (NYSE: DBD) - NEA, Samsung Ventures, Foundation Capital, Oak Investment Partners, Hony Capital and many other funds In addition, I was named a leading capital markets lawyer in California by Chambers USA.

Corporate, Securities and M&A Law Partner

2009 - 2013

While a partner at Sheppard Mullin, I represented: - CHC Helicopter, Fifth & Pacific (formerly Liz Claiborne) and MMI International Ltd (a KKR portfolio company) in senior secured high yield debt transactions - CSR plc, Hanwha, NEA and Samsung in various acquisitions and investments - MetricTest in the sale by its stockholders to Microlease plc - AdoTube in its completed merger with Exponential Interactive, Inc. - the special committee of the board of directors of Tongjitang Chinese Medicines (NYSE: TCM) in a going-private transaction (2010-2011, Awarded "2011 Take Private Deal of the Year" by China Business Law Journal, Nominated for "2011 M&A Deal of the Year" by IFLR Asia) - Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) in a $1.5 billion public offering of senior notes and concurrent subsidiary tender offers for up to $1.9 billion in outstanding debt securities (2010) - RealD (NYSE: RLD) in its $230 million initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange (2010) and subsequent follow-on offering (2010) In 2011 and 2012, I was recognized by Chambers as a leading equity and debt capital markets lawyer in California, and as a Rising Star by California Super Lawyers.

Corporate Lawyer

2005 - 2009

During my Simpson Thacher years, my practice focused on large M&A transactions, private equity sponsored LBOs and capital markets transactions representing underwriters in financings for large technology companies. My clients included AOL, Agilent, CB Richard Ellis, Seagate, SiRF, investment banks Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Lazard Capital Markets, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wachovia, as well as leading Bay Area-based financial sponsors like Elevation Partners, Hellman & Friedman and Silver Lake Partners. Working for some of the biggest private equity and strategic buyers in the marketplace, as well as Wall Street's bulge bracket underwriters, I gained valuable insights into their priorities and processes.

Cross-Border Corporate Finance Lawyer

2003 - 2005

I spent two years in Paris working on cross-border capital markets and M&A transactions for French, European and middle-eastern multinationals and investment banks, as well as advising on public company, disclosure and financial reporting. I spent a lot of time helping multinationals implement Sarbanes-Oxley and explaining and super-imposing U.S. legal norms outside the United States. Brokering transactions between companies from different countries and in implementing U.S. legal norms for non-U.S. audiences, I learned that there are many different ways to get to the right place, and that to get there, you have to be creative. My clients included large ALSTOM, Dassault Systemes, EDF, France Telecom, Orange, Rhodia, STMicroelectronics and Technip, emerging technology company ExonHit Therapeutics and investment banks BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Lyonnais, Lazard Capital Markets, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. Shearman & Sterling is a leading global law firm headquartered in New York, and is particularly well known for its leading U.S. law practices in offices outside the United States. Shearman & Sterling has been advising many of the world's leading corporations and financial institutions, governments and governmental organizations for more than 135 years.

Cross-Border Corporate Finance Lawyer

2000 - 2003

I spent three years in London principally advising UK, French and European multinational corporations listing on the NYSE or NASDAQ on privatizations, initial public offerings, follow-ons, rights offerings, high yield and investment grade bond offerings that were structured as SEC registrations or private placements to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A or to non-U.S. persons under Regulation S. My formative experiences included advising Swiss-based Novartis AG in the spin-off of its agribusiness together with AstraZeneca's (itself the result of a British-Swedish merger) to form Syngenta AG, managing Novartis's and Syngenta's initial listing on the NYSE, and Orange's initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. I also was primary SEC counsel for corporate governance, disclosure and financial reporting matters for STMicroelectronics, Swedish Match and Volvo.