Steven K. Lee Partner (510) 451-3300 slee@donahue.com Download vCard LinkedIn

Steven K. Lee

Partner

(510) 451-3300

slee@donahue.com

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Steve Lee is co-chair of the firm’s Business and Corporate Transactions Practice, the Legal Cannabis co-chair, and is a member of the Intellectual Property Practice. He represents domestic and international clients in a variety of industries, including biotech companies, angel investor networks, software and technology companies, wireless industry companies, consumer packaged goods companies, wineries, healthcare providers, real estate investment companies, nonprofits, and public agencies.

As outside general counsel for entrepreneurs, emerging companies and publicly traded companies, Steve handles a broad range of matters, such as:

• Buy-sell agreements
• Indemnification and Limitation of Liability issues
• Formation of business and nonprofit entities
• Debt and equity financing and private placements
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Joint Ventures
• Corporate governance
• Review, negotiate, and draft business agreements
• Software development agreements
• Trade secret protection

Steve’s notable transactions include representing the fixed-base operator (FBO) in an acquisition of the operations at the Napa Jet Center.  He has also handled complex transactions pertaining to the acquisition of royalty rights in the biotech industry.

Steve has a successful intellectual property practice representing clients in the software, technology and entertainment industries. He has negotiated settlements of copyright infringement claims on behalf of numerous software companies, recovering millions of dollars from infringers for his clients. He advises clients on securing and enforcing their trademark rights and has successfully negotiated countless licensing arrangements and co-existence agreements for his clients in lieu of trademark litigation. He has handled intellectual property matters and corporate transactions for entertainment industry clients such as Carlos Santana, Journey, The Doobie Brothers, Phish, Grateful Dead, The String Cheese Incident, The J. Geils Band, and Amon Tobin.

Steve has been actively involved with business incubators and accelerators. He has given presentations on business and corporate law issues and intellectual property law issues to startups at various business incubators and accelerators. He also serves as outside general counsel to The ArcView Group, an angel investor network focused on the cannabis industry.

Prior to joining Donahue Fitzgerald, Steve served as associate general counsel at ABM Industries in San Francisco, California, where he gained valuable in-house counsel experience and an appreciation for creative, practical solutions to business disputes. In law school, he served as an editor of the Boston University International Law Journal.