Overview
Von Bryant is a senior counsel and corporate lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP where he focuses on helping companies achieve success in business with a strategic and pragmatic approachSM. He is a member of the firm’s Transactions, Private Equity, Venture Capital and Fund Formation & Investment Management Practices as well as the Sports & Entertainment Industry Team. Von is passionate about working with clients to solve business problems and obtain optimal outcomes.
Von’s practice is concentrated on the representation of investors, start-up companies and mature businesses, and focuses on venture capital financings and private equity transactions, M&A and investment fund formation. His broad corporate practice also includes regularly counseling clients on technology licensing, commercial agreements, corporate governance matters and general business counseling.
Prior to joining Foley, he was a venture capital and corporate finance associate at an Am Law 200 law firm in Boston, Massachusetts.
Representative Transactions
- Represented space technology company in $110 million preferred equity offering to strategic public company investors in cross-border transaction
- Represented digital health platform business in $200 million sale to publicly traded health insurance company
- Represented plastics manufacturing company in $100 million sale to private equity buyer
- Represented companies on multiple “spin-off” and “carve-out” auction transactions in excess of $1 billion
- Formed impact investment fund focused on accelerating women and minority-owned businesses
Education
Von earned his law degree from Washington University School of Law (J.D., 2011) where he received a Legal Practice Award for Excellence in Oral Advocacy. During law school, he attended National Taiwan University College of Law for a semester as a visiting student, where he studied cross-border transactions and comparative law. Von earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (B.S., 2006).
As an undergraduate, Von played NCAA Division I football at UPenn and for two seasons at Duke University as a full athletic scholarship recipient for the Blue Devils (prior to transferring to UPenn).
Recognition
- Selected as Foley’s 2020 Fellow on the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD)
- Named to The National Black Lawyers – “Top 40 Under 40” for Washington, D.C. (2015), a professional honorary organization where the invitation is extended exclusively to lawyers who excel in their areas of practice
- Named to the 2014 Lawyers of Color “Hot List” for the Eastern Region, which recognizes early-to mid-career minority attorneys excelling in the legal profession
Community Engagement
Von serves as the coordinator and lead supervisory attorney to Georgetown University Law Center’s Entrepreneurship Practicum, a pro bono effort that provides business counsel and legal advice to startups with a positive social impact and/or for entrepreneurs from underserved communities. He is also a volunteer advisor for the Georgetown Venture Lab – Startup Hoyas.
Admissions and Professional Memberships
Von is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Massachusetts. He is a member of the Boston Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
Publications and Presentations
- Presenter at National Bar Association’s 96th Annual Conference and Convention, “M&A Primer and Bootcamp” (July 24, 2021).
- Presenter at 1863 Ventures Pipeline Program for accelerating women and minority-owned businesses (November 1, 2019)
- Panelist, “Early Stage Fundraising for Life Science Emerging Companies,” Maryland Tech Council (June 27, 2019)
- Co-moderator, “Best Practices in Director Recruitment and Onboarding,” National Directors Institute, Chicago, IL (October 2018)
- Presenter, “Ten Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make…and How to Avoid Them,” WeDC Fest, Washington, D.C. (September 26-28, 2018)
- Co-author, “Private Equity Industry Practice Guide,” Lexis Practice Advisor® (July 2017)
- Quoted, “Are There Some Legal Tasks Technology Can’t Replace?,” Washington Lawyer Magazine (December 2016)
- Presenter, NASA Supported Space Race Challenge program, The Center for Advanced Innovation (August 1, 2016)
- Presenter, “Legal Considerations for Startup Entrepreneurs,” Founders Institute (June 13, 2016)
- Author, “Pitch Perfect: Eight Insights for Effective Start-Up Company Pitch Deck,” The National Law Review (March 29, 2016)
- Panelist, “A View From the Inside: Lawyers in Finance,” Georgetown Law Center Symposium on Corporate Law (February 29, 2016)
- Speaker, “What VCs are Looking for from Start-up Companies,” The University of Chicago, Careers in Entrepreneurship Program (April 22, 2015)
- Panelist, “Reduce Your Risk,” Greater Boston Startup Culture Meetup Group (April 1, 2014)
- Panelist, “(How to Avoid) Mistakes that Lawyers Make,” Boston Bar Association (December 17, 2012)
- Speaker, “Strategies for Success,” Boston Bar Association (July 10, 2012)