Derek concentrates his practice on representing emerging growth companies on general corporate matters, venture capital financings, and mergers and acquisitions. Derek aids his clients by reviewing, drafting, and negotiating preferred stock agreements, SAFEs, certificates of incorporation, and other financing documents. He also maintains and prepares capitalization tables and stock option plans, conducts incorporations of new entities and pro forma capitalization modeling, and coordinates due diligence and capitalization table tie-outs.
Prior to joining the firm, Derek was a corporate associate with a top VC law firm based in Silicon Valley. There, he represented a number of leading VC firms and technology companies. Derek began his career as a corporate associate with an AmLaw 100 firm, where he represented financial sponsors, corporate borrowers, and lenders in connection with leveraged financings, refinancings, and acquisitions.
Derek earned his law degree, cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was a staff editor of the Cardozo Law Review and interned with the law school's Tech Startup Clinic. He earned his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University - James Madison College.