Cooley Snags O’Melveny Capital Markets Leader John-Paul Motley

Cooley LLP has brought aboard John-Paul Motley, the former chair of O’Melveny & Myers’ capital markets practice, as a Los Angeles-based partner.

Motley, who started at Cooley last week after more than 22 years at O’Melveny, advises boards of public and private companies on corporate governance, securities law compliance and disclosure, the firm said in an announcement Monday. His clients range from entertainment and financial services to automotive, airline and technology companies.

Cooley also announced it plans to open a second L.A. office headed by Motley. The new office—expected to be opened downtown later this year—comes nearly a decade after Cooley launched its existing L.A. space in Santa Monica.

Motley’s experience “will be instrumental in supporting the day-to-day needs of our Southern California-based clients in all stages of their life cycle,” Chadwick Mills, co-chair of Cooley’s public companies practice group, said in a statement.

The Palo Alto-headquartered law firm has strengthened its public companies practice bench on the East Coast over the last year, including by adding partners Brad Goldberg and Jean Park from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Motley, according to Mills, will play “a key role as we continue to guide market-leading, late-stage private companies through public offerings and beyond.”

Cooley’s Joe Conroy in February called 2021 “best year in the history of this firm,” with revenue rising 28% to nearly $2 billion, according to the American Lawyer.

Last year saw a surge in transactions and other financial activity as companies sought to secure places in their markets. More than 480 companies went public and transactions raised a record of more than $165 billion, surpassing 2020, according to Bloomberg data.

Cooley views itself as “a platform that supports the life cycle of companies,” Mills said in the statement, referring to the company’s extensive work with emerging companies and investors.

The firm’s client roster includes Snapchat, Inc., Allbirds, Inc., and Zoom Video Communications, Inc.