Back to New York City: How I Came Full Circle

by Scott Edward Walker on February 2nd, 2011

Background

I began my legal career as a corporate associate at two major law firms in New York City.  After nearly eight years, however, I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life helping entrepreneurs (like my father).  I also saw a big problem in the legal marketplace — i.e., that the big-firm template generally doesn’t work for entrepreneurs and startups.  Accordingly, in 2005, I moved to California — the land of the entrepreneurs — to try to solve this problem and launched Walker Corporate Law.

 “The NYC Tech Scene is Exploding”

But a funny thing happened while I’ve been out here in California: the startup scene in New York City began “exploding” (to use Chris Dixon’s term).  Indeed, as super angel Ron Conway wrote in an email to Chris about a year ago:

The pace of innovation in the New York area is very impressive right now. Some of the top entrepreneurs in the country are building and scaling companies in the NY ecosystem.

Paul Daversa, CEO of Daversa Partners (an executive search firm to VC’s and the start-up community), wrote a few months ago that:

[F]or the first time in my 20 years of search, the deal flow and investment lines have begun to blur as NY has become a hot-bed for building great tech companies, and leadership talent is migrating to New York.

And just a couple of days ago (in an article about Jonathan Teo, formerly of Google), Joel Cutler, managing director of General Catalyst Partners, stated that:

New York’s start-up culture is booming, and there’s so much brilliant talent that it’s attracted one of the Valley’s rising stars.

Not to mention all the emails and phone calls I was receiving from New York City entrepreneurs, who were all saying the same thing: “if you only had a New York office.”

OK – I cry uncle.

Our New New York City Office

Welcome to our new office on the 26th floor of the Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue in Manhattan.  Welcome also to my two new colleagues in New York: Glenn Schoenfield and Philip Kahn.

Glenn is solid, with 14+ years’ experience, including 7+ years at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and 4+ years at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.  Glenn has extensive experience negotiating and documenting mergers and acquisitions, financings and a variety of other corporate transactions, and he has represented numerous startups in their capital raising efforts.  Glenn received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Baltimore and his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center.

Phil is also solid, with 15+ years of experience, including as (i) a corporate associate at Debevoise & Plimpton and Akin Gump in New York City; and (ii) Associate Counsel at Major League Baseball Enterprises.  Phil has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, public and private financings, and securities law matters.  He graduated from Vassar College (B.A.) and Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude), where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Cardozo Law Review.

Conclusion

Here’s a shout-out to all the founders and entrepreneurs in New York City: there’s a new law firm in town — with a new, innovative business model tailored to entrepreneurs and startups.  If you’d like to grab a beer or cup of coffee, just call me directly at 212-631-4221.  Cheers, Scott

Tags: corporate law, corporate law group, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, New York City, NYC tech, startup