We represent publicly and privately held companies in a wide variety of corporate and securities matters. Our corporate clients do business in a variety of industries, including financial services, insurance, health care and technology. We also represent investment banking firms, investment advisors and private investors. A number of our lawyers have held positions at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Our clients include start-ups and early stage companies, which we counsel on a variety of business development matters, such as the choice of entity structure, ownership issues, angel and venture financing, and employee benefits and stock-based compensation.

Our securities practice spans virtually every aspect of federal and state securities laws, including public and private offerings of equity and debt securities; compliance with periodic reporting and proxy requirements; and tender offers, proxy contests and "going private" transactions.

The lawyers in our corporate and securities practice have significant experience representing both issuers and underwriters in initial and secondary public offerings and private offerings. We are the leading firm in representing mutual financial institutions in their conversion to stock form, having been involved in the issuance of more than $5.7 billion of common stock for such companies. We also have represented both issuers and underwriters in public offerings of debt securities, trust preferred securities and other complex hybrid securities.

The process by which public companies communicate with their stockholders and the investment community has become the subject of increased scrutiny and regulation. As counsel to many listed companies, we have significant experience in advising public companies as to their reporting and disclosure obligations under the securities laws and the listing standards of the stock exchanges. We regularly advise our clients on their public disclosure practices for both significant and routine events and work closely with our clients in matters of shareholder relations.

No aspect of the business enterprise has received more attention in recent years than corporate governance. We regularly counsel boards of directors and board committees as to their duties and responsibilities in various special circumstances. We work with boards of directors and their committees to develop bylaws, committee charters, and policies and procedures for implementing corporate governance practices and satisfying the listing standards of the stock exchanges.