Lia Schmidt

Lia Schmidt is a partner in the firm’s Business Law Department and a member of the Private Investment Funds practice. She joined Goodwin in 2008.

Lia's practice focuses on the structuring, formation and operation/ongoing management of private investment vehicles (including US domestic and international venture capital, growth equity, private equity, impact, secondary, and debt funds) and their management companies/general partner entities. She also has experience with limited partnerships, limited liability companies, joint ventures, venture capital financings, private placements, and merger and acquisition transactions.

Lia's experience in the private investment funds area includes establishing a variety of private funds through U.S. and international securities offerings, representing fund sponsors in the preparation and negotiation of fund formation and investment documents, and counseling fund sponsors and managers with respect to ongoing matters, including internal operations, compensation issues, separations, and regulatory compliance. She also represents institutional investors in connection with their investments into venture capital and other private equity funds.

Prior to joining Goodwin, Lia was an associate in the tax practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she represented both public and private companies in connection with the tax aspects of corporate transactions, including incorporations, debt and equity financings, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations, recapitalizations, public offerings and spin-offs. Before that, Lia was an associate in that firm’s corporate and securities practice, where she advised private and public companies and their management teams on a broad range of corporate matters.

Lia is the co-author of “Limited Liability Company Agreement for General Partner/Management Company of a Fund,” a chapter in the third edition of Venture Capital & Public Offering Negotiation, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business (2012).

Co-Author, "VC secondaries: types, trends and a comparison to PE secondaries," Reuters (December 2023)