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Kenneth Guernsey

Senior Counsel

Every board and management team can use a good consigliere. That’s where I try to add value.

kguernsey@cooley.com

Kenn Guernsey works with public and private companies, investment banks and venture capital investors, serving as a trusted advisor and legal team leader for companies and professionals in a wide range of industries. Kenn has served as counsel to numerous companies that have pioneered new industries or business models or led their industries, including Genentech, eBay, Yelp, Medivation, Jawbone, Zynga, Gilead Sciences, Wired, Hambrecht & Quist, Peet's Coffee & Tea, LeapFrog, Metricom, Quokka Sports, Raychem and Atari. He has practiced with Cooley since 1978 – except for a five-year period during which he served as general counsel and venture capital COO with Hambrecht & Quist (now JP Morgan) – and served as Cooley's chief executive from 1990 to 1996.

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Experience

  • Intersect ENT Agrees to Sell to Medtronic for More Than $1 Billion 

  • Nuvation Bio to Combine With Panacea, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company 

  • Angion Biomedica – $92 Million IPO 

  • Portola Agrees to Sell to Alexion for $1.41 Billion 

  • Satsuma Pharmaceuticals – $83 Million IPO  

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Education

  • University of California at Los Angeles School of Law
    JD, 1978

  • University of California, Los Angeles
    MBA, Finance
    Beta Gamma Sigma, 1978

  • University of California, Los Angeles
    BS, Mathematics
    cum laude, 1974


Admissions & Credentials

California

Memberships

  • The Bar Association of San Francisco

Rankings & Accolades

    Best Lawyers in America: Lawyer of the Year - Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law (2021)

    Best Lawyers in America: Corporate Law, Securities/Capital Markets Law, Securities Regulation, Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law and Venture Capital Law

    Northern California Superlawyers

    Daily Journal: Top 100 Lawyers in California