Rick Kline, Chair of Latham’s Technology Industry Group and Bay Area Corporate Department, advises leading innovators and financiers on a full spectrum of corporate and securities matters. 

Rick combines his keenly pragmatic approach with a sophisticated understanding of the tech sector, including software, digital health, digital media, and information technology, to guide clients on:

  • Complex equity securities offerings, including IPOs, direct listings, 144A offerings, and follow-on stock offerings
  • Venture financings
  • M&A transactions
  • Corporate governance matters

He forges trusted relationships with CFOs, CEOs, and general counsel to help clients meet the challenges that arise at any stage of a company's growth, particularly as they approach life as a public company. Rick unlocks the resources of the firm's robust global platform to craft practical commercial solutions, including relating to employee benefits and M&A. 

Rick's representative clients include:

Companies

  • Airtable
  • Atlassian
  • DNAnexus
  • Elixir Medical
  • Greenlight
  • Guidewire
  • Health Catalyst
  • Kandji
  • Komodo Health
  • Kong
  • NetSuite*
  • Okta
  • Outreach
  • OwnCompany
  • Reddit
  • Retool
  • Slack
  • The Trade Desk
  • Vercel

Financial Institutions

  • Goldman Sachs
  • J.P. Morgan
  • Morgan Stanley

Rick’s experience includes representing:

Capital Markets

  • Reddit in its US$748 million IPO
  • Imago BioSciences in its US$134 million IPO
  • Slack in its:
    • Direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange*
    • US$862 million 144A offering*
  • Health Catalyst in its:
    • US$225 million secured growth financing
    • US$209 million IPO and US$230 million 144A offering* 
  • Atlassian in its US$462 million IPO and US$1 billion 144A offering*
  • Guidewire in its: 
    • US$115 million IPO
    • US$389 million, US$260 million, and US$200 million follow-on offerings*
    • US$360 million 144A offering*
  • Okta in its: 
    • US$200 million IPO* 
    • US$1.15 billion, US$1 billion, and US$345 million 144A offerings* 
  • Twilio in its US$550 million 144A offering and US$1 billion follow-on offering* 
  • The Trade Desk in its US$225 million follow-on offering* 
  • NetSuite in its: 
    • US$185 million IPO* 
    • US$310 million 144A offering* 
  • Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in:
    • Snowflake’s US$3.9 billion IPO*
    • Snap’s US$3.4 billion IPO and US$1.3 billion and US$1 billion 144A offerings*
    • New Relic’s US$500 million 144A offering*
    • RingCentral’s US$400 million 144A offering*
  • Morgan Stanley in: 
    • HashiCorp’s US$1.2 billion IPO 
    • UserTesting’s US$140 million IPO 
    • NerdWallet’s US$130 million IPO
    • Allbirds’ US$302 million IPO
    • SentinelOne’s US$1.2 billion IPO 
    • PluralSight’s US$357 million and US$550 million follow-on offerings, and US$633 million 144A offering*
    • Model N’s US$172 million 144A offering*
  • Goldman Sachs in:
    • Rubrik’s upsized US$752 million IPO
    • Snap’s US$1.3 billion convertible senior notes offering
    • Sweetgreen’s US$364 million IPO 
    • Coupang’s US$4.55 billion IPO 
    • Switch’s US$610 million IPO *
    • Mulesoft’s US$221 million IPO*
    • Talend S.A.’s US$94 million IPO and US$93 million follow-on offering*
  • J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs in:
    • Snap’s US$1 billion convertible senior notes offering 
    • Five9’s US$259 million and US$747 million 144A offerings*
  • J.P. Morgan in:
    • LegalZoom’s US$535 million IPO
    • Lyft’s US$2.6 billion IPO and US$747 million 144A offering*
  • J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley in Trivago’s US$287 million IPO*
  • Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and J.P. Morgan in Box’s US$175 million IPO*

M&A

  • Slack in its US$27.7 billion sale to Salesforce
  • Guidewire in its acquisition of Cyence* 
  • Okta in its US$6.5 billion acquisition of Auth0
  • NetSuite in its US$200 million acquisition of Bronto Software*

Venture Financing

  • Airtable in its US$735 million Series F financing
  • DNAnexus in its US$200 million Series F financing
  • Kandji in its US$75 million Series D financing
  • Point in its US$115 million Series C financing
  • Thumbtack in its US$275 million financing
  • Spot AI in its US$40 million Series I financing
  • Vercel in its US$250 million Series E financing

Corporate Governance

  • The Trade Desk in its amendment to extend its dual-class sunset 

*Matter handled prior to joining Latham

Bar Qualification

  • California

Education

  • JD, University of Michigan, 1999
  • BA/BS, University of Pennsylvania, 1993