Perkins Coie bolsters Austin tech team with Silicon Valley vet – Reuters

Perkins Coie legal offices in Washington, D.C. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

• Perkins Coie opened in Austin last year
• Valeska Pederson Hintz will be a partner in the emerging companies and venture capital group

(Reuters) – Perkins Coie announced Monday that it has hired a Silicon Valley emerging companies partner from Lowenstein Sandler in its Austin office, as the Texan city’s tech scene continues to take off.

Seattle-based Perkins Coie opened its Austin outpost in February 2020, and many other Big Law firms have since established offices there.

While working for Lowenstein Sandler in Palo Alto, California, Valeska Pederson Hintz focused on corporate transactions, including venture financings and initial public offerings, as well as M&A and SPAC transactions.

She said that Austin used to have mostly early stage startups, but the landscape has recently changed to include more of her typical clients, such as venture capital and private equity firms.

“Valeska’s familiarity with guiding innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs will be highly valuable to our sophisticated clients as they increasingly adopt technology-related platforms and applications,” said Troy Foster, co-chair of Perkins Coie’s emerging companies and venture capital practice, in a statement.

Hintz has roots and family ties is Austin, but she said the “exploding” tech scene was also a major draw.

“My Texas clients are very excited [about the move] and my New York and California clients are not surprised,” said Hintz. She said many of her clients and her clients’ employees are thinking about making the move to Texas themselves.

A representative from Lowenstein Sandler did not immediately return requests for comment on Hintz’s departure.

Perkins Coie has been growing in Austin since last year and in June signed a new lease for a larger space. The firm now has about 20 attorneys working in Austin, according to its website. It also has another Texas office in Dallas.

A number of the nation’s largest firms have opened Austin offices since the start of the year, including Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Kirkland & Ellis and O’Melveny & Myers.

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Perkins Coie inks new Austin lease as more firms flock to Texas

Chinekwu Osakwe

Chinekwu Osakwe covers legal industry news with a focus on midsize law firms. Reach her at Chinekwu.osakwe@thomsonreuters.com.

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