Sonya Erickson

Partner and Business Department Chair
Full contact info

About Sonya

Sonya Erickson is global chair of the business department. She has over 30 years of experience counseling emerging growth companies, established technology businesses and venture capital funds. Her clients range from early stage startups to larger public companies.

Sonya advises clients on a variety of legal and business issues. Her particular expertise is in private and public financing, strategic technology transactions and mergers and acquisitions. Sonya is counsel to public and private companies in a broad range of industries, with a focus on the software, digital health, biotechnology and medical products and services industries. In the last 10 years alone, Sonya has worked on more than 500 venture capital and private equity transactions, as well as numerous public offerings, M&A structured buy- outs, spin-offs and other complex business transactions.

Prior to joining Cooley, she was a shareholder at Heller Ehrman and a director and one of the founding members of the Seattle, WA office of the Venture Law Group (VLG) before the merger with Heller Ehrman. Prior to that, Sonya was an associate and VLG in Menlo Park, Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison in Palo Alto and Jones Day in Los Angeles.

Sonya is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the category of Venture Capital Law since 2004, is listed as a leading attorney in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Corporate/M&A since 2013.

Education

University of Washington School of Law
JD, 1990

Pepperdine University
BS, 1987, Business and Economics, With honors

Rankings and accolades

Chambers USA: Corporate/M&A – Washington (2020 – 2024)

The Best Lawyers in America, Venture Capital Law (2004 – 2019)

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2013 – 2015)

Washington Super Lawyers (2014 – 2016)

Memberships and affiliations

Washington State Bar Association