Louis P A Lehot
San Francisco, CA
Licensed for 20 years
Law Degree
Awards
Primary Practice Area
Business
Language
English
About
Louis Lehot is a partner and business lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP, based in the firm’s Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, where he is a member of the Private Equity & Venture Capital, M&A and Transactions Practices and the Technology, Health Care, and Energy Industry Teams. Louis focuses his practice on advising entrepreneurs and their management teams, investors and financial advisors at all stages of growth, from garage to global. Louis especially enjoys being able to help his clients achieve hyper-growth, go public and to successfully obtain optimal liquidity events.To assist his clients in realizing their objectives, Louis brings to bear a broad array of legal and business instruments, processes and strategies, from formation to liquidity. He guides emerging private companies as they secure venture capital financing, prepare for IPO or de-SPAC, and navigate the exit. His domain experience in public offerings and private placements of equity, equity-linked, and debt securities, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, spinoffs, strategic investments, and joint ventures, as well as corporate governance and securities law compliance matters, serves his clients well. Additionally, Louis regularly represents US and non-US registrants before the SEC, FINRA, NYSE and NASDAQ.Prior to joining Foley, Louis was the founder of a Silicon Valley boutique law firm called L2 Counsel. He previously served as both the co-managing partner and co-chair of the emerging growth and venture capital practice of a global law firm in Silicon Valley. With a legal career in New York, London, Paris, and Silicon Valley spanning more than 20 years, Louis has worked in technology, health care, clean energy, and other innovative industries, leveraging the latest legal technology tools to drive strategies and solutions that make sense.On a very short list of Silicon Valley’s and San Francisco’s leading corporate lawyers, Louis has handled some of the highest profile matters in the tech, health care, and clean energy spaces. Louis has been recognized by peer-reviewed industry guides and leading practitioners as one of the most innovative, creative, and versatile corporate counsel. Chambers USA commented,"Louis Lehot is known for the high quality of his advice, his responsiveness and passion for his clients."Clients have noted,"ease of working with Louis and his ability to cross over into the international space."The Legal 500 US noted that clients have commented on Louis’ abilities as a “master networker” in Silicon Valley. Louis was selected to the Super Lawyers (2021) and Rising Stars (2011 – 2012) list in the field of M&A.Louis has served as a two-time faculty member of Stanford Director’s College, an advisory board member of the Silicon Valley Directors’ Exchange, and a member of Boston College Law School’s Business Advisory Council.Louis practices giving back, supporting local and global initiatives to help our communities, including the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, Home of Hope, Caring for Cambodia, Doctors without Borders, Equal Justice for America, Second Harvest, Ecumenical Hunger Program, Goodwill of Southern California, UAspire, Girl Power Talk and Palo Alto Partners in Education.
Language
English
Contact
Reviews
I was introduced to Louis by another one of his clients, and immediately hired him to help me form my startup. I chose to hire Louis and his firm because he came up with a full-service and tailored solution to serve all of my startup company’s legal needs, and to support us wherever we go, whether legal or in business. Louis personally ensures quality, efficiency and value on every matter we work on. When Louis doesn’t know the answer to something, he doesn’t pretend, he finds the right specialist to answer the legal question and provide market color, and then he offers a really practical solution that saves time and gets to yes. Louis and his team have helped me with getting running my company WannaSplit, with formation, fundraising, strategic, product advice, general corporate governance, employment, executive compensation, and commercial contracts. On the business side, Louis always works hard to promote our brand, which is always appreciated. On another note, Louis and his team now know my company, they know me and they know our requirements. Louis’s reputation and network of investors and thought leaders has helped us gain market exposure, investor meetings and has really accelerated our growth. Lastly, the cost of legal services is an ongoing issue in the technology industry. Louis is doing a great job of integrating technology-enabled solutions to replace lawyers with bots wherever possible (e.g., he uses CARTA instead of excel to manage cap tables, he uses KIRA’s artificial intelligence engine to streamline and accelerate due diligence, and Asana to project manage tasks).
Louis and his team have helped me with getting running my company Flow Immersive, with general corporate governance, fundraising, scaling and examining M&A. On the fundraising side, Louis perspective on the Silicon Valley fundraising environment is invaluable. He is very helpful with networking, spending careful time to help bring us attention. The legal review work is efficient and very appropriate for an early startup, keeping hours tight, unlike many law firms.
I was introduced to Louis by another one of his clients, and immediately hired him to help me form my startup. I chose to hire Louis and his firm because he came up with a full-service and tailored solution to serve all of my startup company’s legal needs, and to support us wherever we go, whether legal or in business. Louis personally ensures quality, efficiency and value on every matter we work on. When Louis doesn’t know the answer to something, he doesn’t pretend, he finds the right specialist to answer the legal question and provide market color, and then he offers a really practical solution that saves time and gets to yes. Louis and his team have helped me with getting running my company WannaSplit, with formation, fundraising, strategic, product advice, general corporate governance, employment, executive compensation, and commercial contracts. On the business side, Louis always works hard to promote our brand, which is always appreciated. On another note, Louis and his team now know my company, they know me and they know our requirements. Louis’s reputation and network of investors and thought leaders has helped us gain market exposure, investor meetings and has really accelerated our growth. Lastly, the cost of legal services is an ongoing issue in the technology industry. Louis is doing a great job of integrating technology-enabled solutions to replace lawyers with bots wherever possible (e.g., he uses CARTA instead of excel to manage cap tables, he uses KIRA’s artificial intelligence engine to streamline and accelerate due diligence, and Asana to project manage tasks).
Louis and his team have helped me with getting running my company Flow Immersive, with general corporate governance, fundraising, scaling and examining M&A. On the fundraising side, Louis perspective on the Silicon Valley fundraising environment is invaluable. He is very helpful with networking, spending careful time to help bring us attention. The legal review work is efficient and very appropriate for an early startup, keeping hours tight, unlike many law firms.