Kathleen M. Wells

Partner

Silicon Valley
kathleen.wells@lw.com
+1.650.463.2677

PRACTICES

  • Capital Markets
  • Emerging Companies & Growth
  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Public Company Representation

INDUSTRIES

  • Entertainment, Sports & Media
  • Healthcare & Life Sciences
  • Retail & Consumer Products
  • Technology

BAR QUALIFICATIONS

  • California

EDUCATION

  • JD, Stanford Law School, 2001
  • BA, University of Arizona, 1996

PROFILE

Kathleen Wells represents public and private companies and investors in the life sciences and technology sectors. She served as Co-Chair of the Silicon Valley Corporate Department from 2011-2019 and has served on the firm’s mentoring, recruiting, and Women Enriching Business committees.

Kathleen represents public and private companies across several industries, venture capital firms, and investment banks. She advises on corporate governance and securities law, and her transactional experience includes numerous public securities offerings, venture capital financings, and mergers and acquisitions.

Specifically, Kathleen advises companies and their boards on:

  • Corporate governance matters
  • Public company disclosure issues
  • Federal and state securities law compliance
  • Equity incentives and employment matters
  • Company formation and startup matters

In addition, she advises companies, venture capital firms, and strategic investors on key transactions, including:

  • Initial public offerings (IPOs)
  • Follow-on and secondary offerings
  • Venture capital financings
  • Mergers and acquisitions

EXPERIENCE

Kathleen's representative transactions include advising:

Capital Markets

  • Airbnb in its IPO
  • Annexon in its IPO
  • Blackhawk Network Holdings in its IPO and spin-off from Safeway
  • Ceribell in its IPO
  • Codexis in its follow-on offerings
  • Corcept Therapeutics in its follow-on offering
  • Corvus Pharmaceuticals in its IPO and follow-on offering
  • Eargo in its IPO
  • e.l.f. Beauty in its IPO and secondary offering 
  • Eventbrite in its convertible note offering
  • lntermune in its follow-on offering
  • Mellanox Technologies in its IPO
  • OpenTable in its IPO and follow-on offering
  • Prothena in its follow-on offerings
  • Raptor Pharmaceutical in its at-the-market offering and follow-on offering
  • Renovis in its IPO
  • Sarepta Therapeutics in its at-the-market offering
  • The Cheesecake Factory in its convertible note offering and concurrent follow-on offering
  • Wag! in its follow-on offering
  • Zosano Pharma in its at-the-market offering and follow-on offering

Mergers & Acquisitions

  • Aduro Biotech in its merger with Chinook
  • Bella Pictures in its sale to CPI Corp.
  • CV Therapeutics in its sale to Gilead Sciences
  • Delivery Agent in its acquisition of Billion Dollar Babes
  • Mellanox Technologies in its acquisition of Voltaire
  • OpenTable in its sale to Priceline and acquisitions including GuestBridge, Just Chalo, RezBook, Table Maestro, toptable.com, and Treat Technologies 
  • Raptor Pharmaceutical in its sale to Horizon Pharma pc
  • ReCAPTCHA in its sale to Google
  • Relievant MedSystems in its sale to Boston Scientific Corporation
  • The Cheesecake Factory in its acquisition of Fox Restaurant Concepts 
  • Twitch in its sale to a multi-national technology company
  • ViVu in its sale to Polycom