National law firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP announced today that it has named New York-based partners Marie T. DeFalco and Sara R. Werner Co-chairs of its Venture Funds Launch Group. DeFalco has co-chaired Lowenstein’s Investment Management & Private Funds Group for many years and has more than 25 years of private funds and venture fund launch experience. Werner brings more than 20 years of private funds and venture fund launch experience.
Lowenstein’s Venture Funds Launch Group provides a dedicated platform advising venture fund managers building venture firms and raising venture funds (including accelerators, funds of funds, and other vehicles), and the limited partner investors into those funds (including institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, nonprofits, endowments, and family offices), on all fund management, governance, operations, compliance, regulatory, transaction, tax, and other matters.
DeFalco ranks among the nation’s 24 individually ranked lawyers in Chambers Global’s USA rankings for Venture Capital: Fund Formation. Lowenstein is one of only seven law firms to earn a ranking from Chambers Global in the United States for Venture Capital: Fund Formation, and one of only two law firms Chambers USA singled out for working with emerging managers in venture capital. Lowenstein’s Emerging Companies & Venture Capital (ECVC) Group is also nationally ranked by Chambers USA in Startups & Emerging Companies, and Lowenstein’s Investment Management & Private Funds Group, which DeFalco co-chairs with Robert G. Minion and Scott H. Moss, is also nationally ranked by Chambers USA in both Hedge Funds and Investment Funds: Regulatory & Compliance.
Lowenstein’s Venture Funds Launch Group leverages its longstanding collaboration with the firm’s ECVC Group to help venture and growth equity fund managers both raise and then (through Lowenstein’s ECVC Group) deploy venture capital. The Venture Funds Launch Group draws on the capabilities of Lowenstein’s nationally ranked Fund Regulatory & Compliance Group chaired by Moss, also recognized by Chambers USA as among the leading Investment Funds: Regulatory & Compliance lawyers in the nation.
“I’ve worked very closely with our Emerging Companies & Venture Capital Group for more than 25 years, advising many of the same clients from overlapping or different angles,” says DeFalco. “I’m thrilled to have Sara as my co-chair, as she also has been performing an important leadership role in our Venture Funds Launch practice since joining us.”
Werner says, “I appreciate working with a team so committed to both emerging and established venture capital funds. Lowenstein has an enhanced understanding of how to build venture firms and funds, in part because we’ve also spent years on the more fractious side, stepping in when venture firm partnerships fracture, whether serving as counsel to the venture firm, the GPs, the LPs, or the LPACs. A significant part of my practice involves launching and building venture and growth equity funds and firms, and that work remains one of the most exciting aspects of serving as counsel to venture fund managers.”
Ed Zimmerman, Chair and Co-Founder of Lowenstein’s ECVC Group, remarks, “I have worked closely with Marie since the late ‘90s, when we were associates together. She is a brilliant practitioner who has helped our clients launch numerous venture funds, and has also partnered with me on fund disputes and litigation, including in her role as an expert witness in the industry. Sara’s arrival has been transformative. From the moment she came on board, it was clear her clients adore her—and equally clear why. She works tirelessly and remains unflappable even in extraordinarily high-pressure situations. It has been deeply gratifying to watch her and Marie co-lead our Venture Funds Launch practice.”
Robert Minion, Chair of Lowenstein’s Investment Management & Private Funds Group, notes, “Our investment adviser clients, and the hedge, private equity, multi-strategy, and other funds that they manage, have needs that overlap with—but differ from—those of the venture firms that Marie, Sara, and our Venture Funds Launch Group advise. Representing the full range of private funds empowers our Venture Funds Launch Group to deliver highly specialized insight to our venture fund clients and their investors.”
In addition to Investment Management & Private Funds and ECVC, the Venture Funds Launch Group collaborates with attorneys from across Lowenstein’s Tax; Executive Compensation; Employment; Intellectual Property; FinTech, Crypto, Trading & Markets; Litigation; and Regulatory practices, reflecting the multidisciplinary approach venture fund managers, investors, and portfolio companies require.
