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 acquisition 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 a 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.