Leaders to WatchVenture Capital & Emerging Companies
The newest edition in Counsel Collective’s Leaders to Watch series continues an ongoing tribute to the lawyers powering the venture economy. Every leader recognized below was surfaced through nominations from across our network and audience, and we congratulate each of them for the impact they are making in the space. This edition honors both sides of the build: the in-house general counsel steering law, governance and scale from inside today’s fastest-growing venture-backed companies, and the private-practice partners who form, finance and take those companies public.
Che Chang
Building the legal function at the center of the AI era as OpenAI’s top lawyer since 2023, after senior corporate roles at Amazon and Goodwin.
Jeffrey Bleich
Former U.S. Ambassador to Australia and Cruise legal chief, now steering legal and policy for a frontier AI lab.
Trâm Phi
Databricks’ top lawyer since 2022 and former SVP & GC at DocuSign, guiding one of the most valuable private companies in software.
Todd Carpenter
Canva’s CLO since 2020 and a former Latham and Wilson Sonsini partner, leading legal and corporate development for the design giant.
Brendan Mulligan
The GC who guided Figma through its July 2025 NYSE IPO.
Meredith Fuchs
Fintech legal chief and former CFPB Chief of Staff & General Counsel; earlier at Capital One.
DeAnn Work
Oversees 70+ in-house lawyers at global HR platform Deel; former SVP, Deputy GC & CCO at Broadcom.
Hasani Caraway
Notion’s GC since 2020; previously General Counsel & Secretary at Zendesk.
Nathan Barksdale
Head of legal at AI-search company Perplexity, with prior roles at OpenSea, Uber and Viacom.
Scott Bulua
Built the global legal function at fintech Ramp; earlier legal experience at Meta.
Adam Frankel
Guided Chime through its 2025 IPO; previously General Counsel at Evercore.
Clint Smith
Discord’s first CLO, overseeing Law & Policy, Trust & Safety and Corporate Security since 2020.
Sarah Wilson
Led legal through Circle’s 2025 IPO at the stablecoin company.
Olive Huang
Led legal through ServiceTitan’s December 2024 IPO; formerly at Nutanix and Latham.
Peter McGoff
Rubrik’s CLO and former Box CLO through its 2015 IPO; named a top CLO by Corporate Counsel in 2024.
Benjamin Lee
Elevated to CLO in 2022; previously GC at Plaid, with earlier roles at Airbnb, Twitter and Google.
Stuart Alderoty
CLO since 2019 who led Ripple’s landmark SEC litigation; former GC at CIT and HSBC North America.
Robert Gonzalez
General Counsel at fintech Mercury, advising on financial-infrastructure regulation as the company scales its banking platform for startups.
Morgan Fong
Instacart’s top lawyer since 2016; led legal, governance and policy through the company’s 2023 IPO; earlier at Fenwick and Wilson Sonsini.
Dina Segal
Chief Legal Officer at payroll and HR platform Gusto since 2022; previously a senior legal leader at Intuit.
Peter H. Werner
Represents high-growth companies and top investors including a16z, Accel and Founders Fund; co-creator of Cooley GO.
Matthew Bartus
25+ years and more than $100B in financings, IPOs and M&A; ranked by Chambers and Legal 500 for VC and emerging companies.
Yokum Taku
More than 1,000 startup financings and author of the widely read ‘Startup Company Lawyer’ blog.
Jeffrey P. Higgins
Leads the firm PitchBook has named the most-active VC firm globally for over a decade; founded its San Diego and LA offices.
David T. Young
Co-founded the firm in 1995; represents technology and life-sciences companies and venture funds.
Cindy Clarfield Hess
Co-leads a group serving 500+ venture-backed companies; clients have included Peloton, Nextdoor and GitLab.
John J. Egan
Two decades in venture and growth equity for emerging tech; a National Law Journal Technology Law Trailblazer.
Craig Schmitz
Best Lawyers ‘Lawyer of the Year’ for Venture Capital (San Francisco, 2022).
Benjamin Potter
Clients have included Duolingo, HotelTonight, a16z and 8VC.
Ellen Ehrenpreis
Named to firmwide U.S. venture leadership in Orrick’s 2025 appointments.
Josh Pollick
Law360 Fintech Rising Star; ranked by Chambers and Legal 500.
Troy Foster
Former CLO of TrueCar and 14-year Wilson Sonsini corporate partner; clients across climate tech, biotech and fintech.
Jeff Lehrer
Executive Committee member helping lead one of the largest VC and emerging-growth platforms in the U.S.
Jim Krenn
Firmwide ECVC chair advising startups, growth companies and venture funds.
Peter J. Fusco
Joined from Goodwin in December 2024 to build MoFo’s New York ECVC bench.
Ed Zimmerman
30-year startup and VC lawyer, adjunct VC professor at Columbia Business School and co-founder of VentureCrush.
Daniel DeWolf
Founder-side securities counsel and creator of MintzEdge.
Jeremy Glaser
West Coast co-chair focused on founder and emerging-growth financings, IPOs and M&A.
Colin Kirby
Named co-chair in the firm’s February 2026 leadership announcement.
Daniel Zimmermann
20+ years advising founders, emerging companies and venture funds on financings, governance and exits; named practice co-chair in WilmerHale’s 2026 leadership slate.
40 Under 40: Legal
The definitive class of emerging legal leaders redefining what counsel means — the rising stars shaping enterprise before 40.
Congratulations to this edition’s honorees
Leaders to Watch is a living series, and every name here was nominated by our network and audience. To the leaders shaping what comes next: nominations remain open and are reviewed on a rolling basis.
