Are Tech Transactions groups just M&A focused on Tech deals? Forum

[antiworldly]

Any advice for someone who is interviewing for SAs now and has primarily been interviewing for corporate but would really like to be in tech transactions?

IPT is first and foremost a corporate practice, so interviewing for corporate roles as a summer is what you need to be doing. During the interview process definitely express interest in IPT and have researched some of the recent deals/some of the people who do IPT work, but there's nothing special about interviewing IPT versus any of the other corporate specialist groups.

This is kind of a relief, thank you! Somewhat of a loaded question, but would it be better to go to a V10 (think latham/k&e/STB) doing generic corporate work (and try and get staffed on tech deals) or better to go to a firm like Goodwin/WSGR that has a more dedicated practice? Ultimate goal would probably be in-house at a large tech company after a few years. Thanks in advance.

I'm not the poster from above but V10s have IPT groups as well, albeit not as large as Cooley or other tech focused firms

I really don't have much insight into how exits compare from a v10 doing mostly deal support vs. a more dedicated stand-alone licensing role. I've worked with in-house attorneys that didn't do any licensing work prior to coming from a v10, but also a lot of in-house attorneys who were dedicated licensing associates prior to the move in-house. The biggest difference I think would be like any other corporate exit - you tend to exit to a client, and so at a v10 that mostly does big public company work, that's where the easiest exits will be; at a firm like Cooley that does mostly startup work, the easiest exits will be to one of those.

[antiworldly]

I'm a midlevel doing tech trans at Ropes (we call it IP Transactions ("IPT")), so my answer will be colored by how Ropes does it, but based on talking with my friends at other firms it's generally reflective of standard biglaw model....

Can you speak to the different types of licenses you work on? Are SaaS agreements considered licensing agreements as well?

I've worked on a few software licenses (always in the context of a spinout M&A deal, so licensing some software from parentco to spinco), but the vast majority of my work is pharmaceutical licensing and collaboration agreements or pharmaceutical co-development and co-commercialization agreements.

SaaS agreements would definitely be handled by the IPT group; they're not per se licenses, but they're so similar and involve the same sort of drafting skills that they'd be squarely in our wheelhouse. Similar things that are "not licenses but IPT does them" are pharmaceutical commercial or clinical supply agreements, transition services agreements, and outsourcing agreements.

[Anonymous User]

Can someone from Cooley/Wilson/Fenwick speak to what Tech Transactions looks like at a tech-focused firm?

[LOLLKK2]

Can someone from Cooley/Wilson/Fenwick speak to what Tech Transactions looks like at a tech-focused firm?

I don't work at the three firms noted above but at Gunderson our TT group take on as many licensing/commercial matters, if not more, as financing/MA support. They are basically in-house commercial/product attorneys for a bunch of VC-backed companies. Before our privacy team was institutionalized, they handled privacy stuff too. Think they still do privacy work, but anything complicated or if a client's business is particularly data-heavy the privacy team will handle the privacy stuff.

[Anonymous User]

Is the lateral market weak for TT/IPT associates given that not every firm has an IPT group? Or does the limited supply of IPT attorneys (at least when compared to general corporate) balance the fewer positions available?

[antiworldly]

Is the lateral market weak for TT/IPT associates given that not every firm has an IPT group? Or does the limited supply of IPT attorneys (at least when compared to general corporate) balance the fewer positions available?

Option 2. Every biglaw firm does IPT work (just some may be limited to deal support) but people with good IPT skills are rare enough that it seems like most firms have a permanent open position for IPT laterals.

Relatedly, Ropes IPT is hiring for any office, so if anyone is looking to lateral happy to set up a time to talk further to start the process of getting your resume into the right hands.

[Anonymous User]

Is the lateral market weak for TT/IPT associates given that not every firm has an IPT group? Or does the limited supply of IPT attorneys (at least when compared to general corporate) balance the fewer positions available?

Option 2. Every biglaw firm does IPT work (just some may be limited to deal support) but people with good IPT skills are rare enough that it seems like most firms have a permanent open position for IPT laterals.

Relatedly, Ropes IPT is hiring for any office, so if anyone is looking to lateral happy to set up a time to talk further to start the process of getting your resume into the right hands.

What's the comp at exits like? How does IPT/licensing in-house comp compare to say, working in-house at a bank?

[ithrowds]

Any advice for someone who is interviewing for SAs now and has primarily been interviewing for corporate but would really like to be in tech transactions?

IPT is first and foremost a corporate practice, so interviewing for corporate roles as a summer is what you need to be doing. During the interview process definitely express interest in IPT and have researched some of the recent deals/some of the people who do IPT work, but there's nothing special about interviewing IPT versus any of the other corporate specialist groups.

This is kind of a relief, thank you! Somewhat of a loaded question, but would it be better to go to a V10 (think latham/k&e/STB) doing generic corporate work (and try and get staffed on tech deals) or better to go to a firm like Goodwin/WSGR that has a more dedicated practice? Ultimate goal would probably be in-house at a large tech company after a few years. Thanks in advance.

I'm not the poster from above but V10s have IPT groups as well, albeit not as large as Cooley or other tech focused firms

I really don't have much insight into how exits compare from a v10 doing mostly deal support vs. a more dedicated stand-alone licensing role. I've worked with in-house attorneys that didn't do any licensing work prior to coming from a v10, but also a lot of in-house attorneys who were dedicated licensing associates prior to the move in-house. The biggest difference I think would be like any other corporate exit - you tend to exit to a client, and so at a v10 that mostly does big public company work, that's where the easiest exits will be; at a firm like Cooley that does mostly startup work, the easiest exits will be to one of those.

Will qualify this last sentence by saying that it's actually probably easier to go in-house to a big public tech company at a firm like Cooley than a startup, especially if you're doing tech transactions/licensing work. I also don't think most people actually go in-house to clients these days.

[antiworldly]

I really don't have much insight into how exits compare from a v10 doing mostly deal support vs. a more dedicated stand-alone licensing role. I've worked with in-house attorneys that didn't do any licensing work prior to coming from a v10, but also a lot of in-house attorneys who were dedicated licensing associates prior to the move in-house. The biggest difference I think would be like any other corporate exit - you tend to exit to a client, and so at a v10 that mostly does big public company work, that's where the easiest exits will be; at a firm like Cooley that does mostly startup work, the easiest exits will be to one of those.

Will qualify this last sentence by saying that it's actually probably easier to go in-house to a big public tech company at a firm like Cooley than a startup, especially if you're doing tech transactions/licensing work. I also don't think most people actually go in-house to clients these days.

At least from Ropes IPT, the vast majority of people who leave land at a client. Some stay in the licensing role, but some jump the fence to the BD side of things.

[antiworldly]

No idea how cross-industry comp compares.

At least during pandemic times, my limited data points say that going in-house to a pharma company as a midlevel seems to be landing you in the (very) general neighborhood of 300k all-in, but a portion of that is usually illiquid/hard to actually value equity comp. However, there's a significant range based on seniority/stage of the company/location/etc..

Is the lateral market weak for TT/IPT associates given that not every firm has an IPT group? Or does the limited supply of IPT attorneys (at least when compared to general corporate) balance the fewer positions available?

Option 2. Every biglaw firm does IPT work (just some may be limited to deal support) but people with good IPT skills are rare enough that it seems like most firms have a permanent open position for IPT laterals.

Relatedly, Ropes IPT is hiring for any office, so if anyone is looking to lateral happy to set up a time to talk further to start the process of getting your resume into the right hands.

What's the comp at exits like? How does IPT/licensing in-house comp compare to say, working in-house at a bank?

[Stevenmilbe]

Is the lateral market weak for TT/IPT associates given that not every firm has an IPT group? Or does the limited supply of IPT attorneys (at least when compared to general corporate) balance the fewer positions available?

Option 2. Every biglaw firm does IPT work (just some may be limited to deal support) but people with good IPT skills are rare enough that it seems like most firms have a permanent open position for IPT laterals.

Relatedly, Ropes IPT is hiring for any office, so if anyone is looking to lateral happy to set up a time to talk further to start the process of getting your resume into the right hands.

Sent you a DM!

[DiligentSage]

Is the lateral market weak for TT/IPT associates given that not every firm has an IPT group? Or does the limited supply of IPT attorneys (at least when compared to general corporate) balance the fewer positions available?

Option 2. Every biglaw firm does IPT work (just some may be limited to deal support) but people with good IPT skills are rare enough that it seems like most firms have a permanent open position for IPT laterals.

Relatedly, Ropes IPT is hiring for any office, so if anyone is looking to lateral happy to set up a time to talk further to start the process of getting your resume into the right hands.

Also happy to chat about Goodwin IPTS if folks are interested there (also hiring in basically every office) and want to DM. Agree with the Ropes poster here broadly on what tech trans practices tend to look like and Goodwin's broadly looks like Ropes' practice here, just with a lot of the standalone licensing work geared toward EC/VC clients akin to the Gunderson poster ITT.

[Anonymous User]

Is the lateral market weak for TT/IPT associates given that not every firm has an IPT group? Or does the limited supply of IPT attorneys (at least when compared to general corporate) balance the fewer positions available?

Option 2. Every biglaw firm does IPT work (just some may be limited to deal support) but people with good IPT skills are rare enough that it seems like most firms have a permanent open position for IPT laterals.

Relatedly, Ropes IPT is hiring for any office, so if anyone is looking to lateral happy to set up a time to talk further to start the process of getting your resume into the right hands.

Also happy to chat about Goodwin IPTS if folks are interested there (also hiring in basically every office) and want to DM. Agree with the Ropes poster here broadly on what tech trans practices tend to look like and Goodwin's broadly looks like Ropes' practice here, just with a lot of the standalone licensing work geared toward EC/VC clients akin to the Gunderson poster ITT.

Do Goodwin/Ropes tech trans support full remote?

[DiligentSage]

Is the lateral market weak for TT/IPT associates given that not every firm has an IPT group? Or does the limited supply of IPT attorneys (at least when compared to general corporate) balance the fewer positions available?

Option 2. Every biglaw firm does IPT work (just some may be limited to deal support) but people with good IPT skills are rare enough that it seems like most firms have a permanent open position for IPT laterals.

Relatedly, Ropes IPT is hiring for any office, so if anyone is looking to lateral happy to set up a time to talk further to start the process of getting your resume into the right hands.

Also happy to chat about Goodwin IPTS if folks are interested there (also hiring in basically every office) and want to DM. Agree with the Ropes poster here broadly on what tech trans practices tend to look like and Goodwin's broadly looks like Ropes' practice here, just with a lot of the standalone licensing work geared toward EC/VC clients akin to the Gunderson poster ITT.

Do Goodwin/Ropes tech trans support full remote?

Goodwin does for the most part. Happy to discuss more if helpful.