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Sam is a member of the firm’s Management Committee. He has extensive experience representing venture firms, strategic investors, and companies in a wide range of domestic and cross-border transactions. Sam’s practice focuses on venture capital and private equity deals, mergers and acquisitions, licensing and commercial matters, entity formation and structuring, and other general corporate and securities matters. He also advises on various compliance, employment, privacy, and other issues as “outside general counsel” to company clients, often drawing upon his prior experience in litigation when advising on such matters.

Sam has a penchant for global adventure, and prior to law school, he lived and worked in several of Mainland China’s tier 1 and tier 2 cities, where he received substantial exposure to the business and regulatory frameworks there. During law school, Sam studied abroad at three of China’s top law schools, and as an attorney, has consulted numerous US, UK and Europe-based clients regarding investment, commercial and operational matters in China, and advised PRC-based clients on similar matters in the US. Sam has also published on PRC legal developments relevant to transnational business.

Education

  • J.D., U.C. Law San Francisco (formerly U.C. Hastings); International Law Concentration Certificate
  • B.S., Business Administration, Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley

Representative Experience

  • Represented lead investor in $240 million Series C of machine learning semiconductor company.
  • Represented fintech company in its $150 million Series C financing.
  • Represented lead investor in $71 million Series A of AI e-commerce and robotics company.
  • Represented drug discovery company in its $100 million Series A financing.
  • Represented lead investor in $130 million Series E of medical device company.
  • Represented lead investor in $330 million Series D of synthetic biology company.
  • Represented largest preferred stockholder in sale of NFT and metaverse company.
  • Represented lead investor in $45 million Series A of biometric security company.
  • Represented generative AI company in high-value licensing and development transactions with video game company licensors.
  • Represented lead investor in $22 million Series A financing of AI mobile security company.
  • Represented sellers of water treatment technology company in $50 million exit.
  • Represented PRC-listed strategic investor in $70 million Series C financing of camera technology company.
  • Represented NASDAQ-listed game company in $45 million acquisition of PC and mobile game dev studio.
  • Represented HK-listed strategic investor in $30 million Series A of game dev studio.
  • Represented AAA mobile game company in $40 million sale of mobile and web game assets.
  • Represented HK-listed strategic investor in $10 million Series A financing of PC and console game dev studio and exclusive publishing deal for Mainland China.
  • Represented AAA game licensor in unwinding of exclusive publishing deals with NASDAQ-listed PRC company during its going-private transaction.
  • Represented NASDAQ-listed AAA game licensor in multiple exclusive PC and mobile publishing deals for Mainland China with HK-listed company for games in two of the top 20 all-time best-selling game franchises.