Derek O. Colla is an associate in the Cooley Business Department and a member of the Emerging Companies practice group. He joined the Firm in 2008 and is resident in the Washington, DC office.

Mr. Colla's practice focuses on representing high growth companies and their investors. He has helped to form, finance, and advise hundreds of emerging businesses in areas such as Internet and digital media, consumer products, clean technologies, software, medical devices, and business services. In the past three years alone, he has counseled companies and investors in over 100 venture capital financings, with an aggregate value greater than $500 million, and has advised companies on numerous mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and follow-on public offerings. While he primarily represents companies in the New York-Washington corridor, Mr. Colla has done transactions with high growth companies all over the world, including a significant number of transactions with Israeli companies.

Mr. Colla received a JD, with honors, in 2008 from Harvard Law School. Following law school, he started his law practice in Cooley's San Diego office before moving to Cooley's Washington, DC office in 2011. Mr. Colla holds a BS in Computer Science, summa cum laude, from Washington and Lee University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Mr. Colla is a member of the State Bar of California and the District of Columbia Bar.