Craig E. Dauchy is a partner in Cooley's Business department, head of the Venture Capital practice group and a member of the Firm's Management Committee. Associated with the Firm since 1975, Mr. Dauchy became a partner in January 1981 and is resident in the Palo Alto office.
Mr. Dauchy has been recognized in many leading journals such as Legal 500, Chambers USA and Best Lawyers. He has also been named to Super Lawyers for ten consecutive years. Most recently, Mr. Dauchy was included in the 2014 edition of Best Lawyers in America for Corporate Law; Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law; Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law; Venture Capital Law. In 2013, Mr. Dauchy was recognized in Chambers USA as a national leader in Investment Funds: Venture Capital and a leader in California in Corporate/M&A: Venture Capital. Mr. Dauchy was also recognized in the 2013 edition of Legal 500 for Investment Fund Formation and Management - Private Equity Funds and M&A - Venture Capital and Emerging Companies. In 2012, he was named to the list of the Top 100 Lawyers in California by The Daily Journal. In addition, Mr. Dauchy was named the 2010 Corporate Lawyer of the Year in the San Francisco Bay Area by The Best Lawyers of America.
Mr. Dauchy specializes in representing venture capital and private equity partnerships. He has participated in the formation of more than 200 venture capital and private equity funds and in hundreds of venture capital financings. In addition to his extensive experience with all aspects of venture capital, Mr. Dauchy has handled a variety of general corporate and securities transactions, including private placements and public offerings, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures.
Mr. Dauchy is co-author of the book "The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law" (South-Western, Cengage Learning, 4th ed., 2012). He is also co-author of "Structuring Venture Capital Limited Partnerships" (The Computer Lawyer). He has been a panelist on several occasions for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), the Practising Law Institute (PLI), the California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), the American Bar Association and the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies, and was featured in the Venture article, "Don't Call Just Any Lawyer." He has written for the Venture Capital Journal. He also has lectured at the Stanford Law School, the Stanford Graduate Business School, the Stanford Graduate Engineering School, and the Owen Graduate Business School (Vanderbilt). Mr. Dauchy serves on the Advisory Board for the Hong Kong Private Equity Finance Association.
Mr. Dauchy received a joint JD/MBA degree in 1975 from Stanford University. He was elected to the Order of the Coif at the Stanford Law School. In 1971, he received a BA, magna cum laude, in History from Yale University. He is a past member of the Board of Visitors at Stanford Law School.
