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Lee F. Benton is senior counsel in the Securities Regulation group in the Firm's Business department, and is resident in its Palo Alto office. Mr. Benton was a partner in the Firm from 1975 until 2006. He served as managing partner of the Firm from 1996 to 2001 and as chair of the Firm's Business department from 1994 to 1996. He commenced his career at Cooley in 1970 in its San Francisco office, and founded the Firm's Palo Alto office in 1980. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, in "The Best Lawyers in Silicon Valley" in San Jose Magazine, in Marquis Who's Who in America and in Madison Who's Who in the World.
Mr. Benton's practice encompasses a broad spectrum of fields related to the formation, financing and growth of high technology companies. He has represented high technology firms from their inception through maturity as publicly traded corporations. Mr. Benton has also represented a large number of venture capital firms making investments in their portfolio companies. His particular areas of expertise in this field also include strategic partnerships, equity incentives, initial public offerings, securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and cross-border transactions.
While at the Firm, Mr. Benton also served as general counsel and a member of the senior management teams of two publicly traded technology companies.
Mr. Benton served as the Executive Editor of The University of Chicago Law Review from 1968 to 1969, and was a teaching fellow at Stanford Law School from 1969 to 1970. Mr. Benton has authored numerous articles and lectured extensively for the Practicing Law Institute, California Continuing Education of the Bar and Aspen Law and Business Inc. His topics include securities law, venture capital, M&A and strategic partnering. He is a co-editor and co-author of Venture Capital and Public Offering Negotiation (Aspen Law and Business, Inc., 2002). This book is the leading authority on the legal aspects of venture capital funds and of private financing and initial public offerings for technology companies.
Mr. Benton currently serves on a volunteer basis as Strategic Advisor to California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) and on the Boards of Directors of Sonim Technologies, Inc. and the National Headache Foundation.
Education- University of Chicago Law School
JD, 1969, Order of the Coif - Oberlin College
BA Government, 1966, magna cum laude
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