Paul T. Wrycha

Partner

Paul T. Wrycha is a partner and transactional lawyer with more than 25 years of experience at Foley & Lardner LLP. He is the managing partner of Foley’s Madison office and the former chair of the firm’s Venture & Growth Capital Practice and the former vice chair of the firm’s Private Equity & Venture Capital Practice. He is a member of the Private Equity & Venture Capital, M&A and Transactions Practices as well as the Technology, Life Sciences and Health Care Industry Teams.

Paul focuses his practice on advising entrepreneurs and their management teams, investors and financial advisors at all stages of growth. Paul especially enjoys working side by side with clients to successfully obtain optimal liquidity events.  He practices in the areas of mergers, acquisitions, leveraged recapitalizations, securities offerings, securities law compliance and the organization, development, and financing of emerging growth and development stage companies. Paul has structured and negotiated numerous complex acquisitions and divestitures for both public and private clients and international and domestic clients. He has represented underwriters and issuers in public equity offerings and numerous emerging growth companies and institutional investors in venture capital financing transactions. Paul also acts in the capacity of outside general counsel for several clients.

Paul has advised on transactions involving diagnostics, logistics, manufacturing, plastics, metals, food companies (including agribusiness and manufactured food products), managed care, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, publishing, consumer products and a variety of service industries. These transactions range in size from quite modest to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Paul joined Foley in 2000 from the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where he represented several national private equity funds. Prior to Skadden Arps, he worked at Netscape Communications Corporation, where his practice focused on high-tech mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, and federal securities law compliance.

Awards and Recognition

  • Most recently, Paul was recognized as an industry leader in the 2018 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Paul was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® in the field of Corporate Law (2008 – 2024) and Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice (2023 – 2024), and has been named 2015, 2019, and 2024 Madison Corporate Law “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers®. He was also included in the 2009 – 2017 Wisconsin Super Lawyers® lists. In 2016, Paul was recognized by The Legal 500 for his work with mergers & acquisitions: venture capital and emerging companies.*
17 August 2023 Honors and Awards

Foley Attorneys Recognized in 2024 Best Lawyers in America

Foley & Lardner LLP proudly announced today that 236 of the firm’s attorneys across 20 U.S. offices have received recognition in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©.
09 September 2022 Deals and Wins

Foley Advises The Varsity Collective Charitable Fund, Inc. in Launch of NIL Platform to Connect University of Wisconsin-Madison Student-Athletes

Foley & Lardner LLP advised The Varsity Collective Charitable Fund, Inc. and VC Connect, LLC in launching its new platform, www.varsitycollective.com, which will aid the University of Wisconsin-Madison student-athletes in monetizing their name, image, and likeness (NIL).
18 August 2022 Press Releases

Foley Attorneys Recognized in 2023 Best Lawyers in America

Foley & Lardner LLP proudly announced that 250 of our attorneys across 20 offices have received recognition in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
19 August 2021 Press Releases

Foley Attorneys Recognized in 2022 Best Lawyers in America

Foley & Lardner LLP announced today that 236 of the firm’s attorneys from 18 U.S. offices have been recognized in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©, and 46 lawyers from 13 offices were included in the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch list. Additionally, 14 of the firm’s attorneys received the special designation of “Lawyer of the Year,” an honor earned by only one lawyer in each practice area and metropolitan region.
22 April 2021 Press Releases

Foley Advises SHINE Medical Technologies in Merger with Phoenix LLC

Foley & Lardner LLP served as lead legal counsel to Illuminated Holdings, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, SHINE Medical Technologies LLC, a next-generation nuclear technology company, in its acquisition of Phoenix LLC, a manufacturer of commercial neutron generators.
20 August 2020 Press Releases

Foley Attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America 2021 List

Foley & Lardner LLP announced today that 20 of its attorneys earned Best Lawyers 2021 “Lawyer of the Year” recognition in their respective practice areas. In addition, 243 of the firm’s attorneys from 18 offices have been listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2021. Another 51 of the firm’s attorneys from 14 offices have been named to the new category of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, which recognizes associates and other lawyers who are earlier in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice.