Darren DeStefano is a partner in the Cooley Business department. He joined the Firm in 1999 and is resident in the Reston office.

Mr. DeStefano primarily represents private and public corporate clients, with a particular emphasis on public securities matters. In addition, he also represents a number of venture capital funds in connection with their investing activities and securities compliance matters. He has represented publicly traded and privately held companies in a wide variety of industries, including software, life sciences, telecommunications, real estate investment trusts and financial services.

Mr. DeStefano's experience includes representing companies in a variety of transactions, including venture capital financings, initial public offerings, secondary offerings, tender offers, option exchange offers, mergers and acquisitions and going private transactions.

Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. DeStefano worked in the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission, where he was responsible for reviewing public companies' Securities Act and Exchange Act filings. Since leaving the SEC, Mr. DeStefano has maintained an active practice counseling corporations and boards of directors on evolving developments concerning federal securities laws, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Regulation FD, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.

Mr. DeStefano received a joint degree JD/MBA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996 with a concentration in finance and securities regulation. Mr. DeStefano received a BBA in Finance, with high honors, from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992.

Mr. DeStefano is a member of the bars of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Texas.