Breen Sullivan

CRV's recent decision to return $275M from its later-stage Select Fund highlights the growing caution around inflated valuations. As capital becomes more selective, this move signals a recalibration, especially for late-stage startups where liquidity is tighter and exits are delayed. While this news centers on a later-stage fund, we may also see new early-stage funds raising less capital going forward. With a more conservative approach across the board, founders at all stages should expect increased scrutiny and a more measured funding environment in the near term. https://lnkd.in/grG7u_KK

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I really enjoyed developing this piece for the Philadelphia Business Journal on AI Best Practices. AI is not Y2K. It’s transformative like electricity. Every company must assess how it’s operations can be improved by AI, how they can drive more revenue with AI, and how they can mitigate the risks with using AI.

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Attended a great prompting class this morning presented by Cecilia Ziniti, CEO and Co-Founder of GC AI. (Thank you Cecilia for your time and wisdom!) Cecilia covered 4 categories that are critical to the in-house counsel role: 🧪 Distilling ✅ Reviewing 📃 Drafting 📚 Researching If you haven't checked out GC AI yet, I encourage anyone practicing in-house to do so. It's incredibly powerful . . . especially after you make time to learn how to lever it effectively. We live in exciting times! https://getgc.ai/

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A compelling read from top thought leaders in the complex mass litigation practice at Winston & Strawn LLP, offering analysis that can be extrapolated to large commercial judicial, arbitration, and ISDS disputes. Beyond issues such as improper funding relationships and activities, ethical solicitation of business, transparency, and mandatory disclosures, the treatment of private justice as an investment medium and system manipulation leading to out-of-court settlement tactics remain significant issues to address. Advancements in AI technology promise to level the playing field between plaintiffs and defendants, enhance the accuracy of outcome predictions, and highlight the value of solo claims. AI-driven tools may even pave the way for AI lawyering functions, which could ultimately ensure more equitable representation. As claim mining and sourcing increase, litigation economics will be evaluated more effectively through multi-sourced data and targeted claim information. This evolution is expected to shrink margins, transforming how the claim funding industry operates and potentially leading to service model mergers, such as between claim insurance and funding, and a blending of roles among contingency law firms, funders, and other claim service providers. The review of complementary and adjacent market models in claim funding reveals diverse approaches. These range from early claim evaluation and assessment of distressed contracts to niche market claim trading, AI-powered justice intelligence for violation detection, litigation crowdfunding and tokenization, litigation analytics and discovery, funding matching, claim recovery, legal representation facilitation, fee optimization, and access to justice. Notable examples include: Keystone Law, Darrow AI, Elevate, Legalist, LexShares, FinLegal, PERSUIT®, Litify, ClaimTrading Ltd, Lexolent, LexisNexis CounselLink®, Avalanche, Invest4 Justice, Liti Capital SA, LawCoin, SettleIndex, Solomonic, ALM Law.com Radar, Practiclaim™ A shift from professional and provider-tailored models to mandate-centric models—moving from a focus on claimholders and claim service providers to the claims themselves, and transitioning from collective system-based value to genuine solo value—could also be on the horizon. #AI #LitigationFinance #LegalTech #DeepLearning #FutureOfLaw #Litigation #LegalIndustry #ClaimFunding #LegalInnovation #Arbitration #ISDS #LegalEthics #JusticeTech #LitigationCrowdfunding #LegalAnalytics #AIInLaw #LegalReform #ClaimRecovery Emily Siegel, David Perla, Ross Todd, William Marra, Jonathan Stroud, Sean Callagy, Sam Sokolsky, Eva Shang, Angela Ni, Westfleet Advisors, Augusta Ventures, Burford Capital, Parabellum Capital LLC, Terrence Dee, Kyllan Gilmore, Michael Hill, Winston & Strawn LLP, Practiclaim™

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Google's recent endorsement of a bill pushing for the disclosure of litigation funders raises concerns about the true motives behind this legislation. While it's framed as promoting transparency, it could disproportionately impact the privacy of plaintiffs and limit access to justice for those who rely on third-party funding. This move might stifle innovation in litigation finance and tilt the scales in favor of powerful corporations. #AccessToJustice #LitigationFinance #LegalChallenges #CorporatePower #ThirdPartyFunding https://lnkd.in/daGw5_rZ

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Exciting news from the legal tech space! Lawhive has raised $40 million to revolutionize how Main Street lawyers operate in the U.S., bringing cutting-edge tools to smaller firms often overlooked by innovation. This move underscores the growing recognition of legal tech's potential to transform access to justice and streamline services for all. #LegalTech #Innovation #AccessToJustice #MainStreetLawyers #FutureOfLaw https://lnkd.in/eBbCMnA5

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Sarah’s hand hovered over the paper, torn between a risky VC deal and a PE offer that seemed unusually perfect. Meet Samantha. She’s representing InnovateTech, a fast-growing startup in Silicon Valley that’s fielding offers from Horizon Capital, a top VC firm. Samantha knows Horizon Capital is all about high-risk, high-reward. They want rapid growth, aggressive milestones, and results within three to five years. The challenge? Ensuring InnovateTech’s culture stays intact while accommodating Horizon’s demands for scaling at lightning speed. Samantha is focused on structuring the deal to protect her client’s values and align with Horizon’s aggressive growth strategy. Now meet Richard. He’s advising Legacy Corp., a well-established manufacturing company ready to sell to a more cautious buyer—Private Equity Group. Private Equity Group is focused on stability, optimizing operations, and avoiding rapid growth. Richard’s job is to navigate a leverage buyout (LBO) and ensure the deal doesn’t overburden the company with debt. Richard ensures the terms reflect Legacy Corp.’s need for stability while meeting the PE firm’s demand for control. The deal may take longer, but the result is a solid foundation for the company’s next chapter. Whether you're dealing with the high-energy world of VC or the patient approach of PE, understanding the buyer’s motivations is key. A skilled M&A attorney can ensure the deal aligns with your client’s ultimate vision. For the sake of entertainment- which side of the image corresponds to PE vs. VC and why? Drop your comments below.

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Two Data Privacy Updates: 1 - Just signed by Governor Newsom, SB 1223 adds neural data as a category of sensitive personal data under California law to the California Consumer Privacy Act, which provides heightened protections under certain circumstances. 2 - On September 28, 2024, Governor Newsom also signed Assembly Bill 2013 (Artificial Intelligence Training Data Transparency), which requires that on or before January 1, 2026, the developer of a generative AI system or service must post on their website, documentation (including a high-level summary) about the data sets that fuel the generative AI models. This law applies to any generative AI system or service created after January 1, 2022.

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I was honored to have the opportunity to speak with TechCrunch about the impact of the #FTC #Noncompete ban on the startup community specifically. Much of the the employer-side commentary on the ban has been negative, but I believe that #startups would uniquely benefit on the whole from a ban. Many of the startup-heavy jurisdictions are already accustomed to noncompete bans or limited enforcement opportunities. And elsewhere, noncompete litigation (whether offensively or defensively) is often prohibitively expensive for an early stage company. In my experience, fear of litigation expenses has deterred otherwise potentially transformational hires even where the likelihood of actual litigation was low. Investors expect to see restrictive covenants where allowable in #fundraise rounds but realistically the ROI of enforcement against a departing employee through litigation is always problematic. I still personally believe the ban won't survive legal challenge, but certainly some will be winners if it does. Cooley LLP

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Courts in #litigation will enforce an agreement as written without considering external evidence so long as the agreement is clear. But it is very difficult to write an agreement that is so clear that someone cannot reasonably read it to mean something different. And the longer and more complicated an agreement is, the harder it is to avoid competing interpretations. When that happens, a court may require a trial and external evidence to enforce the agreement, which adds cost and uncertainty. For example, in a recent case before the state appeals court in Manhattan, a financial services firm sued to enforce a non-solicitation agreement against a former employee. The employee countersued, arguing his contract entitled him to deferred compensation. Both sides provided commercially reasonable interpretations of the agreement to support why they should prevail on the claim without a trial. The appeals court held that, since both sides had reasonable interpretations, neither could prevail on their summary judgment motions and a trial was needed to hear outside evidence on why one interpretation was the correct one. Cases like this illustrate how important it is to draft agreements that lend themselves to only one interpretation. https://lnkd.in/e7yEpGF5

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Mark your calendars for June 6 and join us for an exciting Fireside Chat during New York Tech Week—where the groundbreaking innovation of Silicon Valley meets the vibrant spirit of New York City. This exclusive event promises to ignite thought-provoking conversations and provide invaluable insights from prominent technology entrepreneurs and industry executives. Learn more and RSVP below. #NewYorkTechWeek #Tech #Entrepreneurs

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Award-winning author and #privacy consultant Jodi Daniels joins me on #CyberSip to discuss how complying with #dataprivacy laws builds trust with your customers and differentiates you from your competitors. Plus: privacy is a fundamental #humanright! I really enjoyed this engaging discussion, and I hope you will too. Please like, comment, and share❗ #dataprivacy #privacyconsultancy Red Clover Advisors #cybersecurity

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Great piece by Mark A. Cohen on how General Counsels are strategic (underutilized) assets for any business. Key takeaways: (1) Legal teams engage actively with all functional divisions of a company from product development to finance, customer service, HR and more, so GCs offer a global perspective on the business, its challenges, and its opportunities; (2) Proactive engagement with your legal counsel drives and protects value; (3) Lawyers are trained critical thinkers who can offer sound judgment to inform key strategy decisions. If that has not been your experience with legal, you should change the way you engage with your attorney or find new counsel. This is why I always tell our team that we do not take on any client unless we can provide "Legal Plus Value" for that client and unless that client is ready to receive that value. If you ask me, it's the only way to work! #legalimpact #forcemultiplierforgood #legalinnovators #disruptinglegal #fractionalgeneralcounsel

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Foley's Jeff Atkin shares his perspective on the key trends shaping the energy sector in 2025. From emerging technologies to market developments, his insights provide a roadmap for navigating this dynamic industry. Read the full article to stay informed on what’s ahead for the energy sector: https://lnkd.in/gxTvZfdj

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Christopher Cain evaluated M&A activity in the technology sector in this Mergers & Acquisitions article. For more details on his assessment, please read below. #Technology #Mergers #Acquisitions

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Vault released it's rankings for best Law Firms in NYC. Below are the Top 10. If you're looking to make a move to or from one of these firms or just explore the lateral market, now is a great time with a ton of need across the board. I've placed 20 Candidates in the last year with plenty more having received offers. DM me and we can set up a time to chat. #legal #recruiter #biglaw #lawjobs #lawfirmjobs #lawfirm #legalrecruiting #lawyers #careeropportunities #amlaw #amlaw100 #amlaw200 #attorney #lawyer #biglawjobs #legaljobs #dclawjobs #dcbiglaw #biglaw #lawjobs #lawfirm #legalrecruiting #lawyers #careeropportunities #salary #interview #vault #rankings https://lnkd.in/dmQajqfx

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