Perkins Coie Expands San Diego Office With Emerging Companies Group

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. (June 7, 2011) – Perkins Coie announced today that three new attorneys have joined the Emerging Companies practice in the firm's San Diego office. Peter Townshend has joined as partner, and George Colindres and Monique Ho have joined as Of Counsel. The group joins from McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

"The experience and background these attorneys bring is a great match for our emerging companies team," says Buddy Arnheim, the Firmwide Chair for the Emerging Company practice. “The firm is committed to enhancing our Emerging Companies practice and these additions, along with several other recent hires, give us a strong platform in Southern California from which to better serve our clients.”

New partner Peter Townshend added, "We are excited to be joining Perkins Coie's highly-regarded emerging companies practice. Perkins Coie is a wonderful fit for us, offering great synergy with our practices and providing us an excellent platform.”

The new attorneys will focus their practice on venture capital, angel, debt and equity financings, fund formation matters, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, stock option plans, executive compensation, technology licensing and startup counseling matters. They represent clients in several industries including social networking, e-commerce, online advertising, online gaming, software and hardware, telecommunications, medical devices, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

Townshend received a J.D. from the University of California-Berkeley School of Law, an M.B.A. from the University of California-Berkeley and a B.A. from Yale University. He is a member of the California State Bar, Tech Coast Angels and San Diego CONNECT and is a regular lecturer for the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology at the University of California-San Diego.

Colindres earned a J.D. from the University of California-Los Angeles Law School and a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University. He is a member of the California State Bar, San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, San Diego CONNECT and San Diego MIT Enterprise Forum and served on the Racial and Ethnic Diversity, Pro Bono and Community Service Committees at McDermott Will & Emery.

Ho received a J.D. and B.A. from the University of California-Davis. She is a member of the California State Bar, the Board of Directors of the Asian Business Association of San Diego and the Board of Directors for the Asian American Repertory Theater and served on the Gender Diversity Committee at McDermott Will & Emery.

Perkins Coie's San Diego office opened a year ago with a team of San Diego attorneys who specialized in patent litigation and patent prosecution.  Since opening, the firm has been steadily increasing its presence in San Diego.  Recent additions include patent attorneys Dr. Vinay Sathe and Dr. Babak Tehranchi and patent prosecutor Dr. Fareid Asphahani who further expand the firm's technical expertise in wireless communications, signal processing, integrated circuits, material engineering and biomedical engineering.

"The addition of the new corporate team led by Peter marks an important milestone for the Perkins Coie San Diego office," says Thane Bauz, the managing partner of the San Diego office.  "Not only have we continued to attract top tier professionals, but we are now expanding into select, complementary practice areas like corporate law.  Diversification of our local practice will strengthen the firm’s presence in San Diego by attracting new clients and new opportunities and will nicely reflect the diversified practices at the national level of Perkins Coie." 

The firm has been recognized for its accomplishments in the legal profession, its commitment to diversity and its excellent client service. In January, the firm was recognized by FORTUNE magazine for the ninth consecutive year as being one of the "100 Best Places to Work." In addition, the firm was recently named as one of the "2010 Top Ten Family Friendly Firms" by Yale Law Women.  For the second consecutive year, the firm was named one of the "Best Law Firms for Women" by Working Mother magazine and national consulting firm Flex-Time Lawyers LLC and also earned the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's top rating of 100 percent in the 2009 and 2010 Corporate Equality Index.  In addition, the firm received the Corporate Partnership Award for Supporting People With Disabilities. – Perkins Coie announced today that three new attorneys have joined the Emerging Companies practice in the firm's San Diego office. Peter Townshend has joined as partner, and George Colindres and Monique Ho have joined as Of Counsel. The group joins from McDermott Will & Emery LLP.