Managing Partner - Emerging Companies

Overview

An AI-native law firm is seeking a veteran emerging companies attorney to lead and scale its Emerging Companies practice. This role involves managing financings and corporate work for a growing roster of startup clients—from pre-seed through later-stage rounds—while establishing consistent guidance and processes across the practice. The position combines practitioner responsibilities with leadership and operational innovation, leveraging AI-native workflows to transform how legal services are delivered.

Responsibilities

• Lead venture financings including priced rounds, SAFEs, convertible notes, formations, equity issuances, secondaries, and related emerging companies matters such as employment, IP, and commercial issues for both companies and investors from start to finish.
• Serve as primary outside counsel to emerging companies clients, advising founders and management teams on the full lifecycle of decisions faced by growing companies, including ancillary employment, IP, and other issues.
• Negotiate directly with investor counsel and represent funds on the other side of transactions as needed, applying deep understanding of market terms across stages.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to design, test, and deploy tools that accelerate deal processes and enable consistent practice-wide guidance.
• Define and continuously improve playbooks, training systems, and quality standards for junior attorneys to ensure consistent and efficient delivery of emerging companies work in an AI-native environment.
• Contribute to firm and practice strategy, pricing, and service design as an early senior hire, focusing on scalable processes and consistent guidance across the Emerging Companies practice.

Requirements

• Minimum 7 years of emerging companies and venture capital experience at a top law firm, with substantial company-side and investor-side work. Preferred backgrounds include firms such as Cooley, Orrick, Fenwick, Wilson Sonsini, Gunderson, Goodwin, or Latham.
• Experience guiding clients from startup through IPO stages, including handling ancillary employment, IP, and governance issues.
• Deep experience representing both emerging companies and investors/funds across various stages.
• Strong working knowledge of NVCA documents, SAFEs, convertible notes, 409A and 83(b) mechanics, equity plan administration, corporate governance, and ancillary issues including employment, IP, securities, tax, and commercial matters.
• Ability to translate legal judgment into repeatable playbooks and training materials.
• Excellent judgment and clear, direct communication style.
• Admission to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, in good standing, with ability to obtain additional admissions as needed.

Preferred Qualifications

• Recent hands-on experience using modern AI tools in legal practice, with informed opinions on their effectiveness and potential.
• Desire to lead change in the legal industry by setting practice standards and building scalable, repeatable processes.
• Interest in collaborating directly with engineers to custom-build workflows and tools.
• Commitment to training and mentoring the next generation of emerging companies attorneys.

Compensation & Benefits

• Anticipated base salary: $280,000 - $300,000
• Equity participation
• Eligibility for company benefits
• Modern tooling with no billable hours
• Meaningful ownership and leadership opportunities

Location

Remote-friendly with hybrid work options available.

Application Instructions

Applicants should submit a resume along with a brief statement describing what they would build first if hired and an example of how they have scaled processes or trained teams to deliver consistent, high-quality emerging companies counsel across company-side and investor-side matters. All applications will be reviewed.