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William M. Kelly
Partner

Bill Kelly is a corporate partner and a founder of our Menlo Park office. He primarily represents technology companies and their investors and advisers in mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, corporate governance and securities law compliance. He has been involved in some of the most significant M&A transactions in Silicon Valley and acts as regular corporate counsel to a number of tech companies. He also acts as special counsel to boards of directors, both tech and non-tech, in takeover defense and other sensitive situations.

Mr. Kelly joined Davis Polk in 2000 from Silicon Graphics, where he spent six years as general counsel and in a variety of roles as a senior business executive. He has been actively involved in Silicon Valley law and business since 1982.

Contact
Bar Admissions
  • State of California
  • State of New York
Education
  • A.B., Columbia University, 1975
    • cum laude
  • J.D., Columbia Law School, 1978
    • Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar

Work Highlights

Representations

  • Oracle in corporate governance matters and in numerous acquisitions of public and private companies, including its successful unsolicited offer for PeopleSoft
  • Buy-side public acquisitions for companies like KLA-Tencor, Affymetrix and Blue Coat Systems 
  • Sell-side assignments for companies like AMI Semiconductor and Photon Dynamics
  • Private equity acquisitions and investments for Francisco Partners, including the formation of a flash memory joint venture with Intel and ST Micro
  • Special board counsel assignments for companies like KB Home, Guaranty Financial and LoopNet
  • Comcast in strategic intellectual property ventures with Microsoft, TV Guide and TiVo
  • Transactional, securities compliance and corporate governance advice for companies, including Palm, FormFactor, Affymetrix and Novellus
Recognition

Listed as a leading lawyer in several legal industry publications, including:

  • Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
  • Practical Law Company’s Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions Handbook
  • Law Business Research’s Who’s Who Legal: California
Of Note

Speaking Engagements

  • PLI: Mergers & Acquisitions: What You Need to Know (2008-2009)
  • Stanford Directors College (2007)
  • Law Seminars International: West Coast Forum on Technology M&A (2006-2007)

Membership

  • Director and Chair, Audit Committee, MIPS Technologies
Professional History
  • Partner, Davis Polk, 2000-present
  • General Counsel, and other senior business roles, Silicon Graphics, Inc., 1994-1999
  • Shearman & Sterling, 1978-1994
Publications
  • General Counsel Update
    Planning for New Revenue Recognition Standards—Governance, Communications and Disclosure Implications