TechCrunch, a technology news blog covering Silicon Valley, may have been founded in 2005 by former O’Melveny & Myers and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati associate Michael Arrington. But when AOL acquired the tech site to boost its news coverage, neither of Arrington’s former firms worked on the deal. Instead, TechCrunch was advised by attorneys from Perkins Coie, which has advised both TechCrunch and Arrington in the past.
The Menlo Park team was led by partner Lior Zorea and included counsel Fiona Brophy and associates Zhanping Wu and Christopher Cheng (corporate); associate Mary Piciocchi (equity compensation); and associate Daphne Higgs (IP).
The California team also worked with Seattle partners Bryan Smith (tax) and J. Thomas Cristy (ERISA), along with Portland partner Danielle Benderly (equity compensation).
Meanwhile, New York-based AOL was advised by attorneys from Arnold & Porter and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, AOL general counsel Julie Jacobs told Legal Pad’s sibling publication The Am Law Daily in an e-mail.
The deal was announced Tuesday at a TechCrunch conference in San Francisco. Arrington told the audience that he would stay with the company and retain editorial control, and that AOL would “not impose their bureaucracy” on TechCrunch.
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