Jonathan S. Lipnick, P.C.
Overview
Jon focuses his practice on the representation of private investment firms in all aspects of their business and operations, with a particular emphasis on the formation, marketing, management and legal and regulatory compliance of private investment funds, as well as the operational, economic, legal and regulatory issues faced by their sponsors. In addition, he advises sponsors on a variety of corporate matters including marketing arrangements, bespoke seeding arrangements, custody issues, subscription lines of credit, confidentiality agreements and general firm governance.
Jon is one of the leaders of Kirkland's venture capital fund formation practice. In the last several years, Jon has advised several top-tier venture capital and growth equity firms in connection with their fundraising activities, as well as asset management M&A and other strategic firm-level and fund-level transactional matters, and counsels firm leaders with respect to the structure and design of their management company and general partner entities (including firm ownership and operations, compensation models, succession planning and executive transitions). Jon and his teams use a data driven approach harnessed from Kirkland's broader fund formation platform to provide clients with strategic business advice, thought partnership and cutting edge technology.
Jon has served as a panelist and roundtable moderator on venture capital fundraising at several L Suite / TechGC VCGC conferences, as the moderator of the “State of VC” panel at Harvard Business School's 30th annual Venture Capital & Private Equity conference, as a speaker on the “Legal Side of Venture” panel at Harvard Undergraduate Venture Capital Group's 2025 Entrepreneurship Summit, as a speaker for PEI's Private Funds CFO Forum Venture Circle and as a frequent guest speaker on venture capital fund formation at the Boston University Questrom School of Business and the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
Jon has experience advising seeding platforms in their formation and fundraising activities, as well as with respect to the structuring and execution of their seed stake investments in emerging managers and related arrangements.
Prior to joining Kirkland, Jon also assisted emerging growth / venture-backed companies in a variety of transactional matters, including entity structure, formation, corporate governance, venture financing and other transactional matters.
Experience
Representative Matters
Representative Clients
50 South Capital, Accelerate Investment Group, Ares Management, Bain Capital, Barings LLC, B Capital, Cambium Capital, Camden Partners, Cedar Capital Group LP, Daraja Capital, Electric Capital, Eli Lilly, Energize Capital, Galvanize Climate Solutions, General Catalyst, Grafine Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Greycroft, Haun Ventures, Headline, Human Capital, ICONIQ Capital, Montauk Climate, New Enterprise Associates, Oat Capital, L.P., Perceptive Advisors, P74 Ventures, Redesign Health, Revelation Capital, Rose Park Advisors, Sapphire Ventures, Solum Partners, The Newcastle Network, Thrive Capital, TPG, Transformation Capital, TZP Group, Warburg Pincus and ZMC Advisors.
Clerk & Government Experience
Judicial InternMagistrate Judge Marianne B. BowlerUnited States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
InternUnited States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts
Prior Experience
Foley & Lardner LLP
Summer Associate, Gunderson Dettmer
Before entering law school, Jon was a Vice President with Goldman, Sachs & Co. for over six years.
Prior to his tenure with Goldman, he served as a paralegal in the capital markets group with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, LLP.
More
Thought Leadership
Speaking Engagements
Speaker, “The State of VC,” PEI’s Private Funds CFO Forum Venture Circle, May 2025
Speaker, “The Legal Side of Venture,” Harvard Undergraduate Venture Capital Group’s Entrepreneurship Summit, March 2025
Moderator, “Structuring Funds for the Next Generation” and “Fundraising Trends, Including Secondaries,” 2024 L Suite VCGC Conference, September 2024
Moderator, “State of VC,” 30th Annual Harvard Business School Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference, February 2024
Speaker, “Raising Capital in the New Era: Demystifying the Latest Private Fund Rules for Advisers, Registered and Non-Registered Alike,” TechGC Webinar, January 2024
Moderator, “Fundraising Roundtable,” TechGC VCGC Conference, October 2023
Guest Speaker, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, “Venture Fund Formation,” April 2022 and April 2023
Guest Speaker, Boston University Questrom School of Business, Entrepreneurial Finance Course, “Venture Fund Formation,” February 2022 and April 2023
Panelist, “Fundraising Through Turbulence,” TechGC VCGC Conference, October 2022
Prior Firm Publications
Co-author, “Navigating the Market - Emerging Private Fund Manager Overview to Raising Institutional Investor Capital,” Emerging Manager Monthly, August 2017
Contributor, “Private Equity Industry Practice Guide,” Lexis Practice Advisor®, July 2017
Prior Firm Seminars
Led a round table discussion at the CALAPRS (California Association of Public Retirement Systems) Investment Officer Roundtable in June 2017 on the California Fee Transparency Statute (Cal. Gov’t Code Section 7514.7)
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2014Massachusetts
Languages
- English
- Spanish
Education
- Northeastern University School of LawJ.D.2014
- Georgetown UniversityB.A.2004