Lisa A. Fontenot is a corporate partner in Gibson Dunn’s Palo Alto office. She is a member of the firm's Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance, Media, Entertainment and Technology and Emerging Technologies Groups.
Ms. Fontenot counsels clients across a variety of industries, including some of the world’s leading technology companies and innovative startups (mobile and social gaming, semiconductor, internet, precision automation and software), private equity and venture capital firms. Ms. Fontenot provides advice to company Boards of Directors and management on legal issues ranging from SEC regulation and corporate governance to strategic matters, including M&A and capital market strategies. She has extensive experience representing both domestic and foreign buyers and sellers successfully completing U. S. and cross-border mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and investments. Ms. Fontenot has also represented issuers and investment banks in connection with public and private securities offerings.
Representative clients have included Adept Technology, Inc., Infineon Technologies AG, Intel Corporation, M8 Capital and numerous startup and publicly-traded gaming companies. Ms. Fontenot also serves as pro bono legal counsel to Precita Eyes Muralists, a San Francisco community arts center.
Ms. Fontenot is the Co-Editor of the treatise "A Practical Guide to SEC Proxy and Compensation Rules" (a Wolters Kluwer publication) and author of the chapter “Audit Committee Disclosures”. Other publications include “Risk Management in M&A Transactions” at boardmember.com. She appears regularly as a speaker at continuing legal education programs about securities and corporate governance matters.
Ms. Fontenot serves on the Advisory Board of the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) and the American Heart Association Go Red Campaign, Greater Bay Area.
Ms. Fontenot received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1994, with distinction as a member of the Order of the Coif and receipt of the Edwin S. Cohen tax scholarship. In 1994, she also received an M.A. degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. She received her B.S., magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1990, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
