Paul Hastings Continues Silicon Valley Expansion With MoFo PE Partner
Paul Hastings has nabbed the co-chairman of MoFo's Israel practice, adding another partner to its fast-growing Northern California offices.
March 05, 2019 at 10:29 AM
3 minute read
Shortly after picking up an M&A group from White & Case in the Silicon Valley, Paul Hastings has added another partner to its fast-growing Northern California offices.
Private equity lawyer Alex Kaufman has joined Paul Hastings as a partner in its Palo Alto office, coming from Morrison & Foerster. He most recently served as co-chairman of MoFo's Israel practice, and said he will continue to work with his Israeli clients at his new firm.
“I am a private equity professional and I primarily advise private equity funds,” Kaufman said. “The Paul Hastings platform is truly exceptional and the opportunity to partner with Mike Kennedy, Dana Kromm and Steve Camahort, it was just too good to pass up.”
Kaufman's practice focuses on advising private equity funds and their portfolio companies on corporate transactions matters, including leveraged buyouts, growth equity investments and divestitures. Last year he counseled SoftBank in its multibillion-dollar investment in Uber.
He joined MoFo in 2016 from Kirkland & Ellis. Before that, he was an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. He started his legal career at New York-based Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel and moved to the West Coast in 2011.
“I came to California because I was just so drawn to the explosive growth in the technology sector,” Kaufman said. “And, as a young upcoming associate, I saw a tremendous opportunity to hone my skills in a rapidly expanding market.”
Paul Hastings, which saw gross revenue climb 9.1 percent to $1.22 billion in 2018, has about 100 lawyers in its private equity practice, the firm said.
“Our private equity practice had an exceptionally strong year in 2018 and the additions of leading talent like Alex and other recent laterals is a sign of the firm's accelerated growth in PE,” Seth Zachary, chairman of Paul Hastings, said in a statement. “We're incredibly pleased to find dynamic talent—lawyers that are attracted to the entrepreneurial opportunities to grow their practice and to be part of Paul Hastings' future success,” he added.
The firm's private equity group last year hired Anu Balasubramanian from DLA Piper in London; Ira Kustin from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in New York; and Kfir Abutbul from Willkie Farr & Gallagher in Houston.
But in New York, Paul Hastings just lost its securities litigation practice co-chairman, Douglas Flaum, to Goodwin Procter.
In a statement responding to Kaufman's departure, a MoFo representative said: “The firm wishes Alex well.”
|Read more
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllGordon Rees Opens 80th Office, ‘Collaboration Hub’ in Palo Alto
Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency Practices Stand to Gain From Trump Election
Trending Stories
- 1Judicial Ethics Opinion 24-59
- 2The American Lawyer Names Industry Award Winners
- 3Regulatory Upheaval Is Coming. How Businesses Prepare and Respond Will Separate Winners and Losers
- 4Cravath Elevates 7 to Partnership, Up From Last Year
- 5Kline & Specter Hit With Lawsuit From Another Former Associate
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250