Gesmer Updegrove, LLP

Our Mission

Gesmer Updegrove LLP is New England's premier law firm for technology companies and emerging businesses. Our mission is to be the trusted advisor to our clients, providing quality legal services, outstanding business advice and value-added services. We work side by side with our client CEOs to bring the resources necessary to grow their companies - all while ensuring that their companies are legally protected.
The Word "Unique"

The word "unique" is the most misused word in the English language. By definition, it means "one of a kind or without equal." Yet we hear the word used over and over and over again.

One of the things that makes our firm unique is that approximately 80% of our clients are tech companies. So while other firms may see a particular issue 5 or 10 or 15 times a year, we typically see that same issue 25 or 50 or 75 times a year. We have worked with several thousand early stage companies over our 25 year history and have been involved in many hundreds of financings. And we probably do more domestic and international licensing and data protection work than any other firm in the area. In short, we live and breathe the life cycles of tech companies.

Another thing that makes our firm special is that we not only focus on providing quality legal services, we also provide extraordinary business advice and value-added services. Our goal is to provide clients with impactful business guidance to drive revenue, increase profitability and create value.
Cutting-Edge Clients

Our clients are individual entrepreneurs, private and public companies, venture capitalists, standard-setting consortia, and major educational institutions. Our clients are engaged in cutting-edge areas of business, including software technologies, the Internet, electronic commerce and medical technologies. Our emerging company clients have attracted investments from over 250 venture capital firms worldwide, and we have assisted our clients in raising over $3.5b in capital.
Seasoned Advice

We have worked with thousands of technology companies that have gone from start-up through acquisition or IPO, or which continue as successful businesses owned and operated by their founders. Unlike large law firms that tend to have four to five associates for every partner, we have two partners for every associate. This means that all of our clients work with partners who have many years of legal and business experience. And we only hire lawyers after they have practiced for several years in the nation's largest law firms or as in-house counsel at leading technology companies, so clients receive seasoned, efficient, practical advice.
Sophisticated Practice

A large part of our practice focuses on helping entrepreneurial companies get started, protect their intellectual property assets, find financing, grow their businesses, and have a successful exit. We have extensive experience in private and venture capital financing, mergers and acquisitions, complex joint ventures and all forms of technology undertakings. Our practice encompasses services in a variety of additional areas, including litigation, trademark, copyright, bankruptcy and workouts, tax, international matters and employment law counseling.
Technology Powerhouse

As a firm which focuses intensively on the technology sector, we stay current with the leading edge of those legal and business issues which are crucial to our clients. We are experts in the developing legal areas of e-commerce and Internet technologies, including issues related to data protection, privacy, electronic signatures, web site liability, domain name protection, and e-commerce. In addition, we have assisted scores of the top technology companies in the world to establish standard-setting consortia, and our firm is a national leader in this area of practice.
Value-Added Services

We distinguish ourselves by providing value-added services to help our clients succeed. We make introductions to angel and venture capital investors, critique our clients' business plans, make introductions to proven accountants, bankers and other service providers critical to our clients' businesses, and act as our client's business partner in all ways.
Thought Leadership

The firm's thought leadership is expressed through two world-class web sites: consortiuminfo.org, masslawblog.com. These sites are detailed and up-to-date resources on consortia and standard-setting, data security, open source, and new case law relevant to our clients.

Locations	No. of Attorneys
Boston, MA	27

Practice Areas	No. of Attorneys
Bankruptcy	1
Corporate	11
IP	5
Litigation	7
Tax	1