Babak (Bo) Yaghmaie

Bo is a member of the firm's senior leadership team and serves as the Partner in Charge of Strategic Planning & Initiatives. Previously, Bo served as the firmwide corporate Head of Vertical Initiative & Strategy, a member of the firm's Strategic Committee and the Head of the Corporate Practice in New York.

Bo's practice entails the representation of private and publicly held emerging growth, high-technology and life sciences companies, leading investment banks and venture capital funds, with a particular focus on seed and venture financings, initial public offerings, public offerings of equity securities and mergers & acquisitions. Bo is widely regarded as a leading participant in the New York venture capital and emerging growth markets and regularly represents a broad range of startups, venture-backed companies and leading venture capital funds. He has led well over 500 venture financings, IPOs and M&A transactions, and has been involved in many of the leading corporate and financing matters nationally and in the New York area.

Bo is an adjunct professor at Cornell University Law School and is among the authors of the widely used book, "Venture Capital & Public Offering Negotiation," published by Aspen Law & Business. Bo is a member of the Emory College Dean's Advisory Board and a former member of the Board of Trustees of Prep for Prep, an organization dedicated to providing gifted young people of color access to a first-rate education and an array of leadership development and professional advancement opportunities.

Prior to joining Cooley, Bo was the Head of the New York Corporate & Securities Technology group and Venture Capital practice at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Prior to that, he was a co-founding partner of the New York offices of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Gunderson Dettmer.