Lowenstein Sandler announces that Sara R. Werner has joined the firm as partner in its Investment Management and Emerging Companies & Venture Capital (ECVC) groups. She will be based in the firm’s New York office.
Werner has over 20 years of experience advising venture capital, private equity, and private credit funds. She also represents the limited partners investing in such funds, and the emerging, growth, and established companies in which such funds invest.
In her practice, Werner focuses on fund formation, fund operations, and fund investment transactions, with an emphasis on advising investment managers on fund structures, market terms, and investor negotiations. She also assists fund clients with investments in, and dispositions of, portfolio companies (including secondary and other exit transactions).
When representing companies, Werner acts as outside general counsel, advising board members, founders, and senior management on venture and growth equity financings, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and other strategic business transactions.
Since 2012, Werner has served as advisor to Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, New York’s leading technology accelerator. Her commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship also extends to academia as she served for seven years as an adjunct instructor at Cornell Tech’s LLM program, and as a member of her alma mater’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell Advisory Council.
Werner says: “Lowenstein is a nationally recognized leader in investment management and venture capital, with a reputation for excellence and innovation. I’m beyond excited to join this forward-thinking firm and to collaborate with such an exceptional team supporting clients across the investment and startup ecosystems.”
Robert G. Minion, partner and Chair of Lowenstein’s Investment Management Group, says: “We are thrilled that Sara is joining our firm. Her well-established practice advising investment funds, venture capital firms, and portfolio companies tremendously complements our existing, nationally recognized practices. The addition of Sara to our firm represents building strength-on-strength at Lowenstein and substantially enhances the breadth and depth of services that we offer to our clients.”
Ed Zimmerman, who Chairs (and in the 1990s co-founded) Lowenstein’s ECVC Group, says: “Sara also brings a rare combination of fund-side and company-side expertise to our group. Her work with venture funds across the country, as well as accelerators and incubators like New York’s Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator aligns well with our VentureCrush platform—now in its 25th year—and our commitment to working with founders and investors at a time when many firms have pulled back from working with early-stage startups and their venture investors.”
Marie T. DeFalco, Co-Chair of Lowenstein’s Investment Management Group, notes: “Given our firm’s increased volume of venture fund launch, spin-out, and secondary transaction work, in particular, it’s great to add another veteran investment management partner with deep experience in this arena. I team up extensively with our ECVC Group, and I know that Sara will feel very much at home with both our groups.”
Werner is the latest in a strategic series of lateral partner additions, including ECVC partners Abraham J. Kwon (New York), Armando Castro (Palo Alto), Leia K. Galasso (New York), and John Wayne Horton (Palo Alto); and New York City-based Investment Management partners Ryne Miller and Courtney B. Posner, all of whom joined Lowenstein last year.
Werner was previously a partner at Goodwin Procter LLP and, before that, co-chaired the Investment Fund Formation Practice at Dentons US LLP.
About Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Lowenstein Sandler is a national law firm with over 350 lawyers based in New York, Palo Alto, New Jersey, Utah, and Washington, D.C. The firm represents leaders in virtually every sector of the global economy, with particular emphasis on investment funds, life sciences, and technology. Recognized for its entrepreneurial spirit and high standard of client service, the firm is committed to the interests of its clients, colleagues, and communities.
