Matt Cunningham

What does a corporate lawyer do?

I work mostly with founders and early-stage funds. In many cases, I have worked with founders from their first funding round right through to exit.

I advise on:

• funding rounds; from pre-seed convertibles (SAFEs, ASAs and convertible notes) and angel rounds, through to institutional funding rounds (Series A, B, C and beyond);
• mergers and acquisitions, including sales of companies, businesses and assets, and aqui-hires;
• joint ventures and strategic partnerships;
• share incentive schemes for early-stage companies, including Enterprise Management Incentives; and
• group reorganisations (including new holding companies).

What gives you the edge?

I have been doing this job for a long time because I genuinely enjoy it.

I take particular pride in working closely with founders who, in many cases, are engaged in a corporate transaction for the first time.It’s extremely rewarding to guide them through what can sometimes feel like an overwhelming process – especially when the end result could completely change the course of their business and sometimes even their lives.

During my career, I have done a couple of stints as an in-house lawyer, most recently as Head of Legal at a rapidly-scaling tech company. These have given me a valuable insight into how businesses work in the “real world”.

Clients tell me I’m approachable, and that I give them practical, actionable advice.

Did you always want to be a corporate lawyer?

Honestly, I didn’t even know what a corporate lawyer was until I was in my mid-twenties. I wanted to be a lot of things, but none of them were remotely sensible (or attainable) as career choices for a young man with my skill set.

My first real experience of corporate law was advising on the sale of property search engine and portal, Globrix.com, to the Digital Property Group in early 2010. It was full on; the client and I up against a team of City lawyers on the other side, long hours and late nights, racing against the clock to close the deal. Sounds awful, but I enjoyed every minute. It helped that the client was great to work with (and still is), but something clicked for me during that deal; I had found my niche.

What do you get up to when you’re not lawyering?

My wife and I have three very energetic boys and a border collie, and so my non-lawyering time is mostly spent trying to channel their energy into positive activities that don’t involve trashing our house or gawping at screens.