David R. Lee has joined the Palo Alto office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the firm’s Corporate practice group.  Since 1996, Lee practiced as a partner at White & Lee in Redwood City.  Prior to co-founding that firm, he practiced as a partner at Cooley Godward in Menlo Park.

Lee has extensive experience in the representation of technology and emerging growth companies.  His practice encompasses the formation, financing, corporate governance, intellectual property counseling and transactional fields.  Lee has handled complex mergers and acquisitions, licensing and distribution arrangements, venture capital financings and strategic partnerships for a variety of public and private company clients in a wide range of industries, including software, ecommerce, semiconductors, computer peripherals, telecommunications and retail.

Lee has worked on initial public offerings for many well-known companies, including QUALCOMM, Wind River Systems and Documentum.  He was the lead attorney representing Palm Computing, makers of the successful PalmPilot family of products, in their merger with U.S. Robotics, and he continued work with the Palm Division following the merger and the subsequent acquisition of U.S. Robotics by 3Com.

“David is a Silicon Valley veteran and brings an impressive corporate transactional background, which includes a variety of significant dealmaking representations in the technology sector.  We welcome him to the firm,” said Guy Halgren, chairman of the firm.

“I am very excited about joining Sheppard Mullin, a top-notch full service firm with a premier corporate practice and a growing Silicon Valley presence,” Lee commented.  “I look forward to working closely with my new partners in Palo Alto and firmwide.”

“David is a fantastic lawyer and will be a great addition to our growing Palo Alto office.  He brings a great deal of experience to our emerging growth practice and will be an excellent fit in our Silicon Valley office,” said Tom Hopkins, co-chair of the firm’s Corporate practice group.

Lee received a J.D. from Georgetown University in 1986 and an A.B., highest honors, from University of California, Berkeley in 1980.

Tobin Dommer will also be joining Sheppard Mullin’s Corporate practice group based in Palo Alto as special counsel.  Dommer had been with White & Lee since 2005 and focuses on the representation of emerging technology companies, investors and entrepreneurs in financings and other securities transactions, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property transactions and other corporate governance matters.

Sheppard Mullin’s Corporate practice group includes more than 100 attorneys firmwide.  The firm has 20 attorneys based in its Palo Alto office.

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