A Letter to the NJ Tech Startup Community

[Editors Note: David Sorin has long been a champion of tech startups in New Jersey, acting as a supporter of tech meetups like NJ Tech and the Princeton Tech Meetup and many tech conferences as well. He was a founding member of the New Jersey Tech Council. He focuses his practice primarily on privately- and publicly-owned startup, early stage, emerging growth, and middle market technology and life science enterprises, as well as the investors, executives, and boards of directors who support and lead them. Now his law firm, SorinRand, has merged with McCarter & English and David is Venture Capital and Early Stage and Emerging Companies Practice Leader. We asked David to write a letter discussing how the merger might affect the startup community in N.J.]

To the NJ Tech Community:

Now that SorinRand has officially joined forces with McCarter & English, fledgling companies and the investors that support them – particularly in the technology and tech-enabled sectors, including life sciences – will see a technology-law landscape that combines the best of all worlds.

There is much that has changed – but only where change was needed, and only for the better – and much that will remain unchanged.

From its formation five years ago, SorinRand was a leading firm in representing tech, tech-enabled and life sciences companies in capital-raising and other corporate matters and, to a lesser extent, intellectual property, employment and litigation matters.

Beyond those needs, the firm – founded by attorneys who previously made their homes at the largest, most prominent national law firms – tended to refer its clients elsewhere.

Now, without losing SorinRand’s expertise, personal attention, pricing structure, industry knowledge or relationships, SorinRand’s clients will be able to rely on McCarter’s strengths in nearly any matter they will face, from start-up to exit and all stages in between: mergers and acquisitions, for instance, intellectual property, litigation, employee benefits and executive compensation, immigration, tax, real estate, bankruptcy, health care, and international contracting, among others.

With nearly 425 attorneys, an array of relationships, industry-specific knowledge and experience, a full array of practice areas and disciplines, and nine offices from Boston to Washington – including every significant technology and commercial market in that footprint – the combined firm offers its clients McCarter’s breadth and SorinRand’s depth in technology, tech-enabled and other emerging growth company sectors.

SorinRand was at a crossroads where, to meet our clients’ needs, we would have to grow quickly or merge. The firms agreed: for McCarter’s clients and our clients, and for that firm and ours, this merger made sense on all levels. The firms will benefit, but the real story here is that all our clients will benefit.

Clients will see immediately that the combination of the two firms – significantly different in size and scope but complementary – will leave untouched what was working.

SorinRand always maintained and will continue to maintain a low-cost infrastructure that allows it to price legal services within its clients’ means – no changes there.

The relationships between SorinRand’s attorneys and clients will stay the same, ensuring the big-client feel that each of the firm’s clients has enjoyed over time. Each matter will be appropriately staffed by top attorneys with high levels of experience and expertise borne of having advised on hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of transactions – no change.

The firm’s values, cultures, methodologies, philosophies and systems of delivering excellent legal representation are similar, ensuring a seamless transition for clients.

The care, excellence and value that SorinRand has represented remains unchanged. We’ve enhanced what we can offer our clients, to their benefit.

Our commitment to early- and mid-stage companies and investors who finance them is inviolable. The combined firm is best positioned – and perhaps uniquely positioned – to serve this community. Entrepreneurs, start-ups, unfunded founders, late-stage success stories, tech companies of all stripes, and financiers will appreciate the powerful combination of SorinRand and McCarter & English.