Bruce Jenett

Bruce is an experienced corporate lawyer who over the past 40 years has served U.S. and international clients in the life sciences industry, representing start-ups and large multinational corporations, and financiers, with a particular focus on emerging companies and venture capital financing and commercial transactions.

Bruce is highly experienced in equity and debt financing, licensing and distribution, strategic alliances, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions, as well as general counseling issues, representing both start-ups and large multinational corporations.

He is known for his ability to help people work together to a common goal and to close deals in a collegial productive manner, and as a respected speaker, over many decades, nationally and internationally, on topics of interest to the life sciences emerging company industry.

From 2008 through 2019, Bruce was a Partner of, and Senior Counsel with, DLA Piper LLP, the largest law firm globally, and from 2008 to 2012, served as Co-Chair of DLA Piper’s global life sciences practice. Prior to DLA, Bruce was a Partner with Heller Ehrman LLP, a major San Francisco law firm and was Co-Chair of that firm’s life sciences practice.

He has for many years served as a member of the Board of Directors and of the Executive Committee and Nominating Committee of the California Life Sciences Association, the leading California life sciences industry association, and has been a member of, and was Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of, former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Biotech Advisory Council.

Bruce has been consistently ranked for many years as one of the leading life sciences lawyers in the United States and internationally by recognized lawyer ranking publications. Chambers & Partners, a leading independent client/peer input lawyer-ranking publication, has consistently recognized Bruce as one of the leading life sciences lawyers in the United States in their Chambers USA guide, and has noted that he “is a prominent and well-respected corporate life sciences lawyer” and “is particularly valued for his great experience and ability to handle complex negotiations”. Chambers & Partners has also noted that Bruce “possesses a wealth of expertise in a broad array of financing, licensing and M&A matters,” that he has a “strong and broad-based” practice,” “is truly a full-service life sciences lawyer”, and is “known for his strong venture capital and collaborative expertise”.

Over the past several decades, Bruce has given well over 100 teaching/educational presentations to, and has moderated and spoken on panels to, entrepreneur and business audiences in the United States and Europe, including at national industry conferences, on such topics as venture capital and angel financing of emerging companies, building Boards of Directors and creating effective Board-management communication, international joint ventures, how to organize and manage the business transaction process, licensing, how to make a successful pitch for financing, and bioethics and business.

Apart from all that, Bruce is an actor and playwright, a skier, and a blues and rock, classic American songbook, and bluegrass harmonica player in several bands, and has a 1965 Corvette Stingray which he loves.


Representative Transactions and Engagements

  • Over 100 venture capital, angel financing and bridge loan financing transactions for emerging life sciences companies
  • Represented venture funded ophthalmology cataract laser surgical company from inception, through a sale for $400,000,000 to Abbott Medical
  • Represented a venture funded ophthalmology image capture device company
  • Represented a major European crop science company in one of the largest ag-bio deals ever done, with a US biotechnology company
  • Representation of an emerging ag-bio company with a novel pesticide technology
  • Represented an Australian animal healthcare technology company from inception to its sale to Zoetis, a US public company
  • Represented a venture funded laser medical device cardiovascular company, from inception through its public offering and its ultimate sale to another public company
  • Representation of various new food sciences and new materials sciences companies
  • Representation of a public liquid cancer biopsy company with respect to various transactional matters
  • Representation of companies with new technologies for commercial manufacture of expensive materials such as synthetic CBD and mycelium products
  • Representation of an emerging rapid DNA testing technology company
  • Representation of an Irish/US manufacturing and clinical trials data technology management company from inception through its sale to a multinational data management company
  • Representation of a Swedish biotechnology company in its several investments in an emerging US biotechnology company
  • Representation of a privately-held allergy diagnostic company through its sale to a major Japanese company