Who's the client? The role (and duties) of startup counsel

Neil Wertlieb is the former General Counsel and a retired partner from Milbank LLP, a leading international law firm, where he worked for over two decades, from 1995 to 2016 (as Partner) and from 2022 to 2024 (as the firm’s first-ever General Counsel). Based in Milbank’s Los Angeles office, Mr. Wertlieb’s legal practice focused on business transactions, primarily acquisitions, securities offerings and restructurings. Mr. Wertlieb is an Adjunct Professor at UCLA School of Law, where (since 2002) he teaches a transaction skills course of his own design, which includes deal-making, negotiation, contract drafting and ethics. Mr. Wertlieb is also Senior Advisor, Milbank@Harvard at Harvard Law School Executive Education, a professional development education program that provides attorneys with immersive week-long programs to build leadership and business skills. The Milbank@Harvard curriculum includes intensive, interactive courses on finance and accounting, leadership and team management, strategy, marketing, negotiations and macroeconomics. Mr. Wertlieb is also a Visiting Lecturer at UC Berkeley School of Law, where he teaches transaction skills. He has also taught similar courses at USC Gould School of Law, UC Irvine School of Law, and Santa Clara University School of Law. For more information about Mr. Wertlieb’s transaction skills course, click here. https://wertlieblaw.com/about/