Professional Background
Immediately prior to joining the firm, John served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for nine years at an Austin-based SaaS model technology company. As a member of the senior leadership team, John personally negotiated, managed, and documented a broad array of SaaS-model platform implementations, and also handled the successful acquisition of the company by a strategic buyer. In this General Counsel role, John developed a specialized expertise in intellectual property, technology and licensing matters, as well as privacy and data breach law. His General Counsel experience, and role as a member of the senior executive team, has given him unique insight and appreciation for the business aspects of his clients. John has extensive experience representing emerging growth companies in funding rounds and liquidation events, and navigating the sales process with private equity funds and strategic buyers. He has also represented many buyers in M&A transactions, handling all aspects of these buy side M&A transactions from inception through closing.
Prior to his General Counsel role, John was an equity shareholder in two major law firms. John has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas Law School, where he taught a class entitled “The Life Cycle of a Technology Start Up” from 2001-2004. He has presented at the University of Texas, Texas State University, St. Edward’s University, the Central Texas Angel Network, and various continuing legal education seminars on the subject of representing emerging growth companies.
Experience
- Representation of companies in mergers, acquisitions, and restructurings, with a focus on advising technology companies
- Representation of companies in connection with numerous debt and equity financings
- Representation of venture capital funds and angel investors in connection with financing emerging growth companies
- Advising entrepreneurs in connection with entity formation and early stage funding rounds
- Advising Board members and senior management teams with respect to fiduciary duties and other Board responsibilities
- Counseling in connection with various data and privacy matters, including extensive experience with international data privacy issues and GDPR
- Negotiation of numerous SaaS-model platform agreements, master service agreements, data supply agreements, and licensing agreements, including negotiation of SLAs and related provisions
Presentation Topics
- Venture capital and “angel” financing transactions
- Board fiduciary duties, particularly with respect to non-profit Board members
- Attorney-client privilege issues for in-house counsel
- Mergers and acquisitions and related employee concerns
- Legal issues for emerging growth companies
Awards and Recognition
- Best Lawyers in America, Corporate Law, 2020–present
Admitted to Practice
Education
- Oklahoma City University School of Law, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- J.D., 1992, magna cum laude
- OCU Law Review, Notes & Comments Editor
- University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
- B.A., Government, 1989
