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Cooley Bets on the Midwest Venture Scene with New Chicago Office
May 17, 2021, 2:53 PM
Official launch includes 10 partners
Move was “no brainer” for firm, despite others’ doubts
Cooley’s official launch of a 10-partner Chicago outpost on Monday is a culmination of what firm vice chair Mike Lincoln said was a decade of scoping out the Midwestern venture capital scene, which he believes can support the firm’s full-service office ambitions.
Bloomberg Law reported last month Cooley was poised to open in Chicago with former Winston & Strawn partner Rick Ginsberg and former DLA Piper partner Greg Grossman. The firm said the office will also include former Latham & Watkins partner Laurie Bauer.
Those lawyers represent venture capital firms and emerging companies, a practice that has built Cooley’s national brand and helped it become one of the fastest-growing law firms in the past decade with revenue more than tripling since 2010. Cooley has become the first among a small group of Big Law firms that made their names representing startups in Silicon Valley to put down stakes in Chicago.
Some competitors have privately questioned whether Chicago’s start-up scene is mature enough to reward Cooley for its investment. But Lincoln said in an interview the Midwest has Cooley’s stamp of approval, benefiting recently from the buildup of software engineers and academic institutions that are launching more important companies.
“The time is ripe for taking advantage of that trend,” Lincoln said. “For us, as long as we could identify the right team, which we’ve done, we viewed it as a no-brainer to make this move.”
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/busine...chicago-office
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