Cooley LLP announced today that James Strawbridge has joined the firm as a partner in its business department. He will be a member of the firm’s business & finance practice group and will be resident in Cooley’s Palo Alto office.

“Jim is a veteran Silicon Valley dealmaker who brings to Cooley a wealth of diverse experience in both business and law,” said Fred Muto, chair of Cooley’s business department. “We’re thrilled to have such a seasoned practitioner joining our team, and we’re confident that he’ll be an asset to our core and expanding client base on a broad range of corporate matters.”

Strawbridge joins Cooley from Worldview Technology Partners, a Bay Area technology venture capital firm, where he has been a general partner and the Chief Operating Officer since 2001. Between 1999 and 2001, Strawbridge was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at RealNames Corporation. Prior to that, he was a partner for 12 years at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati. At Wilson Sonsini, Strawbridge worked on the full range of corporate transactions for technology and other emerging growth companies, including public equity and debt offerings, private equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions and strategic investments/joint ventures. Among the companies that Strawbridge advised were Netscape Communications, Pixar, NetGravity, Xilinx and NeXT Software. Strawbridge has also represented leading global investment banks, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, in their capital markets transactions, including offerings for Broadcom, Cisco and Synoptics.

“Cooley’s strengths and my practice capabilities align perfectly,” Strawbridge said. “I’m excited to join a team that works so effectively with so many of the world’s most innovative companies.”

Strawbridge earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1987, and his B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, cum laude, from Virginia Tech in 1984.

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