|
|
Kent M. Clayton | Of Counsel
kclayton@bergerkahn.com
Orange County
Kent M. Clayton has 20+ years of legal experience, most of it in the role of outside general business counsel to private and public companies. Prior to joining Berger Kahn in 2006, Kent spent 16 years in private practice as an associate and a partner with several large international and national law firms, where he handled mergers and acquisitions, venture capital funding transactions and other private placements of securities, initial public offerings and other public and private securities issuances, high value syndicated secured credit facilities, and national and international joint ventures and other strategic alliance arrangements.
Kent currently represents small and mid-size private companies, their management and owners in a broad range of business law matters, including entity formations, sale of business transactions, commercial real estate transactions, investment transactions and other business transactions, which includes negotiating and drafting stock and asset purchase agreements, merger and reorganization agreements, purchase and sale agreements, post-sale consulting and employment contracts, earn-out arrangements, share exchange agreements, financial services documents and other business transaction documents, as well as documentation of “friends and family” investment situations and other “seed capital” financing transactions, venture capital and “angel” investment deals, and other private placements of securities.
Kent also focuses on internet and technology companies and has represented computer software developers and hardware manufacturers, semiconductor manufacturers, telecommunications infrastructure companies, IT consulting firms, internet start-ups and many other companies in a broad range of industries. He has extensive experience drafting and negotiating technology and commercial transactions, particularly in the software and internet spaces, and has negotiated and drafted major transactional agreements, licensing agreements, product development agreements, secured and unsecured credit agreements and strategic partnering agreements worldwide, including multiyear licensing deals with NetGear, LG, Bell Microproducts, Apple, Microsoft and hundreds of others. Kent also provides legal counsel and documents to his clients for their day-to-day legal needs, including trademark, trade secret, and copyright counseling and licensing; human resources and employee relations; internal practices and procedures; executive employment agreements; stock option plans and agreements; customer and vendor contracting; OEM/ODM and other reseller agreements; and crafting and maintaining the company's standard non-disclosure agreements, terms and conditions of sale, manufacturing agreements, distribution agreements, and other contract forms.
Prior to attending law school, Kent was a computer programmer and database manager at Data Broadcasting Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed public company.
He received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1990 and is a member of the State Bar of California and the Orange County Bar Association.
Back
|
