Silicon Valley law firms ramp up for economic recovery practices - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

tarpleypymibujuh1491.blogspot.com
Several firms have set up formal practice areas to help navigat clients through the intricacies of the American Recoverhy andReinvestment Act. Others are being less formal, but no less in counseling clients on everything from regulatory issuew toapplication preparedness. Hogan Hartson LLP is one of many firms that formallyt announced a practice area dedicated to the federaolstimulus efforts. Michael Charlson, managing partner of the Washington, D.C.-base d firm’s 5-month-old Palo Alto office, said the firm’s Stimulusx Legislation Task Force is intended to help clients accesa some ofthe largesse.
About one-thired of Hogan & Hartson’s practice is In fact, the firm considers its “sweet spot” as the intersectioh where governmentmeets business. “We’re workiny to be on top of initiatives that help out in the areazlike cleantech,” Charlson said. “We have huge health care and governmentfcontracts practices, so everything that touches on thosse areas is going to be something that we’re Mark Radcliffe, a partner at DLA Piper’s East Palo Alto said the stimulus package is “uniquelgy important to Silicon Valley” because of its focuxs on clean technology and small DLA is combining its Silicon Valley technologu acumen with its D.
C.-based savoir-faire — which includes capitop heavy-hitters like former congressional majority leaders Georg e Mitchell, Richard Armey and Dick Gephardtt — to navigate clients throughj it all. Radcliffe and D.C. partner Gary Klein co-produced a stimulus-related Webinar titled “Thes Stimulus Bill — What It Mean for Cleantech Startups andtheird Investors.” The firm is hosting a live presentation at its East Palo Alto officezs March 27 in consort with Siliconj Valley Bank and other Government regulation and funding changes everything, Radcliffer said, and it’s important for Silicoj Valley management to understand that.
Cleantech is just as fundamentallyh different fromother venture-backed industriese as it is from the traditionall energy sector. “The playing fiel d is going to bestrongly tilted. That’sx just the way it is in energy, and you need to be prepares for that orelse you’re going to get run Radcliffe said. Klein, legal counsel to the Senatre Energy Subcommittee inthe 1970s, said the federap affairs and legislative practice hasn’t worked much with Silicoh Valley startups in the “They either haven’t been directly or significantlh affected by stuff going on in Washington or haven’rt paid much attention to it,” Klein “But it’s clear that there’s so much mone y being shoveled out the door so much of it available to startups and venture capital that it behooves all folks in the energy and environmentt area to know what’s going on and see if there’ s opportunities.
” Cooley Godward Kronish LLP was positioned well when the stimuluse package was unveiled. Less than a year ago, before the marke meltdown, the firm beganb to hone in on sources of funding forclean technology. The firm has already taken two clients through the Departmengof Energy’s application process for pre-stimulud government financing. “We feel pretty good that we’re in a leadership position to be helping on the stimulud programsbecause we’ve already been througu a couple of shakedowne dealing with the rules and regulations,” said Palo Alto partner Jim Fulton. Guidance for accessing stimulus fundsx are still forthcoming formost programs.
But attorneys aren’t waiting idly by in anticipation. Fulton said Cooley’ss clean technologies practice is assisting severalp more clients to pull together theie stories so that when the finap rulescome down, “these companies will be ready to go rathet than being caught flat-footed.” What the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has said Hanson Bridgett partner Jonathabn Storper, is that government agencies receivingb stimulus funds give preference to projects that can be startedx within 120 days of Feb. 17, 2009, and completedd expeditiously. “So contractors need to be preparex tomove quickly,” said Storper, who agrees that preparation is key.
Equallt important is understanding the impact of acceptin gstimulus money, he said. It’s expecterd that technology companies and any otherpotential supplier, vendor or consultant looking to take advantagee of the stimulus will be subject to the Federaol Acquisition Regulation, meaning periodic reporting and increasedx accountability, “which could be a challenge for particularly smaller companies,” Storper said.