Robert S. Fore

Rob Fore is a partner in Goodwin's Private Investment Funds group. With over 25 years of experience in the field of fund formation and operations, Rob advises venture capital funds, buyout funds, funds-of-funds and other private equity funds and their management companies in connection with structuring, formation and operations. He also represents institutional investors in venture capital and private equity funds. Over the course of his career, Rob has participated in the formation of over 400 domestic and non-U.S. funds.

Rob's practice also includes representing venture capital funds and private equity funds in their investment activities and has extensive experience in venture capital financings. He also has experience with limited partnerships, limited liability companies, joint ventures, private placements and mergers and acquisitions.

Rob’s representative clients include:

• Acorn Bioventures 
• Cervin Ventures
• Craft Ventures
• Founders Circle Capital
• Gotham Green Partners
• Mobilitie, LLC
• Pinnacle Ventures
• Rembrandt Venture Partners
• Revelation Healthcare Partners
• Saints Capital
• Tower Arch Capital
• Translink Capital

Rob's deal experience includes the representation of:

• Mobilitie in a transaction in connection with a sale to BAI (2021) 
• Mobilitie in its $1.1 billion sale of cell tower assets to SBA Communications, a transaction recognized as The Deal Pipeline’s Deal of the Day (2012)
• Various venture capital and private equity funds in direct investments into growth-stage companies

Prior to joining Goodwin, Rob was the co-head of the Fund Services practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He joined WSGR from Banc of America Securities LLC, where he was an investment banker with the technology group focusing on corporate finance.

Rob also served for nearly eight years as the general counsel to a major bank's world-wide private equity and venture capital businesses. His practice focused on investments by the bank in private equity funds, direct investments in venture-backed companies, subordinated debt investments and equity investments in foreign companies. He began his legal career at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, where he concentrated on mergers and acquisitions, securities law and general corporate matters.

Rob was recognized for his work in Investment Funds: Venture Capital: Fund Formation by Chambers Global 2022.

He has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America Best Lawyers and Lawyers of the Year for his work in Private Funds / Hedge Funds Law 2022-2023. Rob was named Lawyer of the Year – Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law (San Francisco) in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, which recognizes only one lawyer for each specialty and location.

He was also a recommended lawyer for Private Equity Funds (including Venture Capital) by The Legal 500 US (2021-2024).

Rob has been selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Chambers USA (2021-2024) for his work in Venture Capital Fund Formation.

He has also been selected in several leading publications recognizing outstanding practitioners, including US News-Best Lawyers and Northern California Super Lawyers. In 2017 Rob was named "Lawyer of the Year" for Private Funds / Hedge Funds Law in San Jose from Best Lawyers. For 21 consecutive years, Rob has been listed in “The International Who’s Who of Private Fund Lawyers” by Law Business Research (2003-present). He was an editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, while attending law school.

Rob is a frequent speaker at conferences on issues affecting private equity funds. His recent publications include:

• Co-Author, “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
• Contributor, “Venture Fund Private Placement Memorandum,” a chapter in the third edition of Venture Capital & Public Offering Negotiation, Walters Kluwer Law & Business, 2003