Dentons And WeWork Form Partnership
Looking to expand its work with startups, mega-firm Dentons is partnering with WeWork in New York. The 6,600-lawyer firm will make attorneys available to WeWork members in five of WeWork's New York City locations. (At least 15 lawyers have committed to weekly office hours, with a partner and associate at each location, and follow-ups.) It'll also host quarterly "lunch and learns" to share thought leadership with startups, and annual retreats.
"Dentons is pleased to support the exciting new ventures that comprise WeWork Labs' New York tech community," says Dentons' startup program co-chair Randy Adler (left). Randy and Victor Boyajian (right), global head of the firm's 125-lawyer Venture Tech practice, are heading up the WeWork collaboration.
They tell us they anticipate helping WeWork members with legal documents but also insights on market conditions, raising funds and business advice.
If startups want to go beyond the follow-up at office hours, Dentons has multiple startup packages, Randy tells us. For instance, a preliminary IP assessment offering, a program to raise funding from angel communities in NY and beyond, and help positioning for an exit (such as an IPO or sale to a larger company).
As part of its involvement in the NY startup community, the firm recently hosted a dinner in a Brooklyn motorcycle shop, which brought together venture capital funds with angel investors, startups, and former startups such as Snapchat. It's part of the DEN—the Dentons Entrepreneur Network—dinner series initiative organized by Dentons associate Thomas Michael. (At the end of this month, they're hosting a reception for founders and CEOs at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.)
WeWork has more than 30,000 members (full disclosure: Bisnow is one of them, in DC and NY) in four countries. Randy (right, with Thomas Michael) tells us the collaboration started through his relationship with the WeWork founders, who were interested in a relationship with Dentons' decades-old venture group.
Victor tells us the venture group works with incubators and accelerators around the globe, including East London, Berlin and Shanghai.
Recent matters for Victor and Randy include closing a $2M seed round for an artificial intelligence cybersecurity company backed by Battery Ventures, repping a Canadian startup reincorporating in the US and an Australian company pivoting to New York, working on a couple of Series A rounds, and, more generally, helping organizations with crisis management and general corporate work and strategy.
