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

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Several firms have set up formal practics areas to help navigatr clients through the intricacies of the American Recoveryt andReinvestment Act. Others are being less formal, but no less in counseling clients on everything from regulatory issued toapplication preparedness. Hogan & Hartson LLP is one of many firms that formally announced a practicer area dedicated to the federal stimulus Michael Charlson, managing partner of the Washington, D.C.-basede firm’s 5-month-old Palo Alto office, said the firm’ss Stimulus Legislation Task Force is intendedr to help clients access some of the largesse. Aboutg one-third of Hogan & Hartson’s practice is regulatory.
In the firm considers its “sweet spot” as the intersectionj where governmentmeets business. “We’re working to be on top of initiativew that help out in the areas like Charlson said. “We have huge healthh care and governmentcontractz practices, so everything that touches on thosw areas is going to be somethintg that we’re monitoring.” Mark Radcliffe, a partner at DLA Piper’sz East Palo Alto office, said the stimuluws package is “uniquely importantf to Silicon Valley” becausd of its focus on cleanb technology and small companies. DLA is combiningh its Silicon Valley technology acumen withits D.C.
-based savoir-faire — which includes capitoll heavy-hitters like former congressional majorityh leaders George Mitchell, Richard Armey and Dick Gephardy — to navigate clients through it all. Radcliffde and D.C. partner Gary Klein co-produced a stimulus-related Webinadr titled “The Stimulus Bill What It Means for Cleantech Startupes andtheir Investors.” The firm is hostint a live presentation at its East Palo Alto officeds March 27 in consort with Silicobn Valley Bank and other groups. Government regulation and funding changes Radcliffe said, and it’s important for Silicon Valleu management to understand that.
Cleantech is just as fundamentallgy different fromother venture-backed industriexs as it is from the traditional energyh sector. “The playing field is goingv to bestrongly tilted. That’s just the way it is in and you need to be preparexd for that orelse you’re going to get run Radcliffe said. Klein, legal counsel to the Senate Energy Subcommitteee inthe 1970s, said the federao affairs and legislative practice hasn’t worked much with Silicon Valley startups in the “They either haven’t been directly or significantly affected by stufd going on in Washington or haven’t paid much attentiob to it,” Klein “But it’s clear that there’s so much money beinfg shoveled out the door so much of it availabls to startups and venture capitalo entities, that it behoove all folks in the energhy and environment area to know what’s going on and see if there’e opportunities.
” Cooley Godward Kronish LLP was positioned well when the stimulue package was unveiled. Less than a year ago, beforre the market meltdown, the firm began to hone in on sourcew of funding forclean technology. The firm has alreaduy taken two clients through the Departmentyof Energy’s application procesas for pre-stimulus government financing. “Ww feel pretty good that we’re in a leadership positionj to be helping on the stimulus programszbecause we’ve already been through a couple of shakedowns dealing with the rules and said Palo Alto partner Jim Fulton. Guidanced for accessing stimulus funds are still forthcominbg formost programs.
But attorneys aren’t waiting idly by in Fulton said Cooley’s clean technologies practicw is assisting several more clientx to pull together their stories so that when the final rulesdcome down, “these companies will be ready to go rather than beinb caught flat-footed.” What the American Recover and Reinvestment Act has established, said Hansonj Bridgett partner Jonathan Storper, is that government agencies receiving stimulu funds give preference to projects that can be starteed within 120 days of Feb. 17, 2009, and completed “So contractors need to be prepareds tomove quickly,” said Storper, who agrees that preparation is key.
Equallyu important is understanding the impact of acceptintstimulus money, he It’s expected that technology companies and any other potential supplier, vendor or consultant looking to take advantagwe of the stimulus will be subject to the Federal Acquisition meaning periodic reporting and increasee accountability, “which could be a challeng for some, particularly smaller companies,” Storper said.