K&L Gates Deepens Life Sciences, Technology Transactional Experience With California Partner Additions

Orange County/Palo Alto – Global law firm K&L Gates LLP welcomes Mattias Luukkonen and Michael Gorback as partners in its Corporate practice. Luukkonen joins the firm’s Orange County office from Reed Smith LLP and Gorback arrives to the firm’s Palo Alto office from Hanson Bridgett LLP in San Francisco.

Rick Giovannelli, a leader of K&L Gates’ global Corporate practice, stated: “We are excited to add Mattias and Mike to bolster our strong life sciences and technology industry teams and to continue our growth in these sectors in California.”

Luukkonen represents a variety of clients in the life sciences industry on intellectual property and commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financings, and general corporate matters. His practice includes structuring, drafting, and negotiating complex collaboration and license agreements, as well counseling on activities relating to pre-clinical and clinical research and development. Luukkonen also has extensive experience drafting and negotiating commercial agreements on both the supply and distribution side.

In addition to private practice, Luukkonen served as general counsel for a forensic DNA technology company and was the chief legal officer at a privately held biopharma company. Before attending law school, he worked as a molecular biologist and completed post-doctoral training at a leading drug company.

“Mattias has significant transactional experience with a strong private practice and in-house background,” said Michael Hedge, managing partner of K&L Gates’ Orange County office. “We are thrilled to have him expand our life sciences capabilities in Southern California and across the firm’s global platform.”

Gorback has a traditional Silicon Valley startup corporate practice focused on assisting emerging technology companies across a variety of sectors, from software and medical devices to crypto and e-commerce, from formation to exit. He also represents institutional and angel investors in their early-stage investments within the technology sector. His practice encompasses corporate formation, debt and equity financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, technology transactions, corporate governance, and securities regulation.

“Mike is a proven leader and trusted adviser to his clients,” commented Matt Mangan, managing partner of K&L Gates’ Palo Alto office. “He is a highly experienced and capable emerging growth and venture capital lawyer with deep roots in the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem. We are thrilled to have Mike join our Palo Alto office to complement our strong national and global transactional and securities practices.”

Luukkonen and Gorback are the latest California-based lawyers to join K&L Gates since the beginning of 2023, including intellectual property partner Ryan Keech and litigation partner Ronie Schmelz in Los Angeles, and litigation partner Michael Stortz in San Francisco. The arrivals of Luukkonen and Gorback follow several additions to K&L Gates’ global Corporate practice in the past year, including Dallas partner Virginia Peters, Singapore partner Sarah Park, Sydney partner Stuart Broadfoot, Los Angeles partner Naoki Kawada, and Hong Kong partner Paul Haswell.

K&L Gates’ Corporate practice is one of the most substantial in the legal industry, with more than 500 lawyers in offices on five continents assisting clients in the structuring, financing, and completion of domestic, international, and cross-border transactions. The group serves as counsel to a broad array of Global 500, Fortune 100, FTSE 100 corporations, privately held and venture-backed companies, partnerships, private equity firms, other investment funds, management groups, and entrepreneurs, helping to earn K&L Gates the distinction of Corporate “Law Firm of the Year” in Best Lawyers’ “Best Law Firms” report two of the last three years.