Laurent M. Campo

Laurent Campo has extensive and broad experience counseling clients in M&A, corporate transactions, strategic alliances, complex commercial transactions, as well as administrative and regulatory law compliance. He brings more than two decades of experience both as an in-house lawyer and law firm counsel, with a particular focus on technology companies, as well as government contractors and other entities operating in highly regulated industries. His practice includes domestic entities expanding operations abroad and pursuing transactions internationally, as well as foreign entities completing transactions in the United States.  As Vice President and General Counsel of a technology company, Mr. Campo served as lead executive for legal, compliance, ethics, and risk management functions, including managing internal and external resources related to those functions.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Structured, negotiated and implemented complex, multi-staged spinout of client from larger government contractor, including multi-phased IP cross-licensing, raising equity and debt financing, and obtaining government approval of novation of Small Business Innovative Research government contracts.
• Negotiated and drafted series of highly sensitive IP licensing transactions involving core speech recognition and translation technologies in connection with sale of long-term joint venture partner of client, including license back from third-party purchaser all rights needed for client to continue fundamental R&D in the same field of use as well as permitting all global selling activities of existing product lines.
• Represented client in restructuring project finance loans with the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group) and FMO, the Dutch development bank, relating to the funding of its joint venture operations in the People’s Republic of China, and negotiating new global manufacturing and sourcing agreements relating to such restructured operations.
• Represented group of executives of a government contractor specializing in lasers and electro-optical sensor systems for military and space applications, in a private, leveraged buyout of the Company from its founders. In addition to structuring and negotiating stock purchase, also negotiated a secured loan from Wachovia used to finance the transactions.
• Served as lead transactional attorney in the creation of a joint venture of six of the leading pharmaceutical and life sciences companies in the United States. 
• Represented client and its affiliates in securing software customization and related information technology services from a Swedish technology company, for the optimization and management of complex wireless data communications.
• Represented a British company listed on the London Stock Exchange, in its $314 million acquisition of a Texas corporation, and various other affiliated entities.
• Represented client in its expansion into Norway, including a complex sale-leaseback transaction of a new infrared pre-flight deicing system to be installed at Gardermoen Airport and related subcontracts with a consortium of companies located in Canada and the United Kingdom relating to the design and construction of the deicing system.
• Represented the country’s then-largest competitive local exchange carrier, in numerous mergers and acquisitions, including the $1 billion acquisition of an international telecommunications company, and $11.3 billion merger with AT&T.
• Represented affiliates of client established for the express purpose of making strategic private equity investments in high technology companies complementary to client’s cable businesses. 
• Represented several venture capital funds and negotiated, performed due diligence and closed many private equity investments, including investments in a wireless communications technology company, a company providing wireless Internet access solutions for hotels and multiple dwelling units, a cable television company offering high speed Internet access and broadband telephony services, and a European telecommunications company.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

• Voxtec International, Inc., Vice President and General Counsel
• Howrey LLP, Associate, Corporate and Transactional Group
• Dow Lohnes (merged with Cooley LLP), Associate, Corporate Practice Group

PRO BONO AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Pro Bono representation of asylum seekers. Recognized for successful service by Human Rights First.

MEMBERSHIP AND AFFILIATIONS

• FINRA, Arbitrator

PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES

• Controversial New Hedge Fund Strategy Reveals Unintended Consequences of Recent Patent Law Changes, published in Japanese translation by the Intellectual Property Lawyers Network, December 2015

LANGUAGES

• French