Cooley has hired a pair of capital markets lawyers from White & Case and Fenwick & West in New York as it seeks to boost its public companies practice.

Rupa Briggs and Nicolas Dumont join as partners in New York from White & Case and Fenwick respectively. The hires come amid a buoyant time for public offerings, particularly through special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) issuance. By the end of the second week in March, more SPACs had gone public than in the whole of 2020, according to Refinitiv. 

Nicole Brookshire, co-chair of Cooley’s public companies practice group, said: “Rupa and Nicolas are both exceptional lawyers with broad experience serving a wide range of clients as they go public and beyond, including navigating multinational companies through offerings and transactions, corporate governance and disclosure and securities matters.”

She added: “They will play a key role as we continue to take market leaders public – through traditional offerings and the transformational SPAC deals that we have been managing for our clients – and partner with clients as trusted advisers after they grow within the market.”

Briggs brings with her more than 16 years of capital markets experience, most recently as a partner at White & Case, which she joined in 2018. She previously had an almost three-year stint at Shearman & Sterling and 11 years at Debevoise & Plimpton, including a brief move to Morrison & Foerster during 2008. Her practice is focused on representing issuers and investment banks in capital markets deals, from IPOs to follow-on equity offerings and SPACs, as well as both high-yield and investment-grade bonds.

She said: “Cooley is uniquely positioned to support clients through all stages of the corporate lifecycle."

Dumont, meantime, arrives from Fenwick, where he was counsel. Like Briggs, he is experienced in both equity and debt capital markets issuance, as well as working on corporate restructuring matters and advising on securities law issues around digital currencies and blockchain tech.

Last month, Cooley advised semiconductor designer Achronix on its agreement to combine with SPAC ACE Convergence Acquisition, in a deal that is estimated to have a $2.1bn post-transaction equity value. The Palo Alto-based firm was placed 10th in Refinitiv's first quarter global M&A rankings by volume, up thirty places from last year. It advised on 71 deals valued at $34bn.