business & technology

business & technology

"this is a team that places a real emphasis on relationships; clients of all sizes enthused about the attention they received and likened the relationships to those with in-house counsel" Chambers USA

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Experts in Technology & Life Science

Representing leading technology and life sciences companies in their entire life cycle from start-up to public company to M&A.

Emerging Companies Specialty

Lawyers have organized several thousand emerging companies.  

Transaction Powerhouse

Mergers and acquisitions with value over $41 billion.
Public company securities offerings with proceeds of over $16 billion.
Private placements with proceeds over $3.6 billion.

(since 2000)

Bench Strength

70 lawyers representing technology and life sciences companies.  Lawyers throughout practice areas consistently receive national recognition for excellence.

IP – Maximizing Value 

Lawyers with PhDs and other advanced degrees perform cutting edge work and strategic planning in technology and life sciences.  One of first major Boston firms to establish patent group.  Nationally recognized IP litigation practice.

World-Class Licensing Capability

Among most experienced and knowledgeable licensing lawyers in US in all areas including open source.

Capital Markets Leader

Lawyers have represented blue chip investment bankers and underwriters, including:

Banc of America Securities      Morgan Stanley 
Canaccord Adams  Prudential Securities  
CIBC World Market Corp Needham 
Deutsche Bank Alex Brown    SG Cowen Securities 
First Albany Capital Tucker Anthony Cleary Gull  
Goldman Sachs UBS Securities 
JP Morgan Chase William Blair 

Experts in Industry Partnerships 

Lawyers have negotiated key strategic partnerships, licenses, joint ventures, distributorships and commercial transactions with industry leaders, including:

AlcatelIntel 
Baxter Healthcare Monsanto 
Becton, DickinsonNortel 
Cisco Oracle 
Comcast Pfizer 
Dow Chemicals Pharmacia 
IBM  

National/International Reach 

Technology and life sciences company transactions in almost all 50 states and many foreign countries, especially in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  Preeminent US – Canada cross-border practice.

National Recognition 

Nationally recognized:

  • Ranked in top 30 “Most Active Law Firms” worldwide based on number of private equity and venture capital deals negotiated and closed in 2009 (Private Equity Analyst)
  • Named “Go-to-Firm” in M&A and IP in 2008 (Corporate Counsel)
  • “Buyout Deal of the Year” award for 2005: Choate represented private equity seller (Buyouts Magazine)
  • Ranked among the top “Most Active Law Firms” worldwide based on number of private equity and venture capital funds worked on for general partners and limited partners that closed in 2009 (Private Equity Analyst)
  • Received ACQ Finance Magazine’s 2009 ACQ Law Award for “Internet and E-Commerce Law Firm of the Year” in North America.

blue chip clients

Lawyers have represented blue chip clients, including:

Astellas Pharma

Bayer

Citrix Systems

Dana Farber

Eisai

General Electric

Harvard  

Hewlett-Packard

L-1 Identity Solutions

Mass General Hospital

Matritech

Memorial Sloan-Kettering

MIT

Open Text

Pegasystems

Raytheon

SeaChange International

Sierra Pacific

Southwall Technologies

Stanford

Teradyne

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Wyeth/Pfizer

leader in venture capital

Lawyers have represented preeminent venture capital firms, including:

Advent International

Ampersand Ventures

Argo Global Capital

Ascent Venture Partners

Atlas Venture Fund

Battery Ventures

Bessemer Venture Partners

BioVentures Investors 

Boston Millennia Partners

Cardinal Health Partners

Celtic House

Essex Woodlands

Fidelity Ventures

Flagship Ventures

General Catalyst

GrandBanks Capital

Highland Capital Partners 

IDG Ventures

Kodiak Venture Partners

MedEquity

North Bridge

Oxford Bioscience

Polaris Ventures

Prism Venture Partners

Summerhill Venture Partners

Summit Partners

VenGrowth

US Counsel to Irish Technology Company

Choate served as US counsel to Similarity Systems, of Dublin, Ireland, in its US $55 million sale to Informatica Corporation in 2006.  The sale closed approximately one month after the parties began their initial conversations regarding the transaction.  The sale to Informatica, a leading provider of enterprise data integration software and services, was one of the largest technology transactions involving an Irish-based company in 2006. 

Choate previously represented Similarity in connection with its US activities, including its acquisition of the Evoke Software Corporation.

Underwriters' Counsel in $69 million IPO

Choate represented Thomas Weisel Partners as underwriters' counsel in connection with the $69 million IPO of Salary.com.  The transaction, which closed in February 2007, has drawn wide national media attention as a recent example of the public market “window” opening up for an emerging growth software company. 

Salary.com is a leading provider of on-demand compensation management solutions for large enterprises.  The company also maintains a well-recognized website that has been ranked in the top 10 in a variety of different national surveys of career and compensation-related advice websites.

Choate Represents Technology Company in $770 Million Merger

Choate represented Viisage Technology in its $770 million merger with Identix Corporation.  The combined company, known for its leading products and technologies in the identification solutions and biometrics sectors, now operates under the name L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. and is listed on the NYSE.