DLA Piper announced today that Geoffrey M. Ossias has joined the firm’s Corporate and Finance practice as a partner in the Phoenix office. Ossias focuses his practice on emerging companies in a broad range of technology-driven sectors, including healthcare, e-commerce, renewable energy and financial services. He regularly assists these companies in a wide variety of strategic transactions, including debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions and the resolution of complex corporate governance matters. He also regularly represents venture capital and private equity funds in connection with their investments in early-stage companies. Earlier in his career, Ossias was a co-founder of MyPoints.com, a publicly traded Internet marketing firm in San Francisco.
Ossias is the most recent addition to the firm’s growing Phoenix office, following the hiring of Kevin Lytle and Craig Cartwright in the office’s Real Estate practice in June.
“Arizona is a growing startup community and Geoff has a strong reputation within that space,” said Jay Smith, chair of the firm’s US Corporate and Finance practice. “As a former startup founder himself, he understands what these businesses are concerned with and what assistance they need to achieve success.”
In addition to his transactional work, Ossias handles day-to-day corporate matters such as executive employment contracts and equity incentive plans; development, sales and marketing agreements; JVs; and manufacturing, distribution, license and supply arrangements.
“There is considerable transactional activity in the Southwest with an increasing need for lawyers like Geoff who can help companies access capital and navigate complex business challenges,” said Steven Pidgeon, co-managing partner of the firm’s Phoenix office. “His strong ties to Silicon Valley coupled with the firm’s two offices serving that market should be a differentiating factor for our clients.”
DLA Piper was recognized as one of the most active law firms in terms of venture capital deal volume in the first quarter of 2014, according to the "US Venture Industry Report” published by PitchBook. In the last five years, the firm has consistently ranked among the top law firms in global VC deal volume by Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst. In 2013, the firm reported that it had completed 1,044 financing transactions, including 580 venture capital and 464 private equity deals.
Ossias joins DLA Piper from Quarles & Brady, where he was co-chair of the firm’s Emerging Growth Companies practice. Before entering private practice, he was senior counsel with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance in Washington, DC. He also sits on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Technology Investor Forum, a leading angel investor group for startups in the Phoenix area, and Seed Spot, a Phoenix-based incubator.
Ossias earned his J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of Law, his M.J. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his A.B. from Vassar College.
