David M. Hernand is a partner in Cooley's business department. Mr. Hernand is a founding partner and partner-in-charge of the Firm's Los Angeles office. He joined the Firm in 2012. Mr. Hernand advises companies, board of directors, special committees, investment banks, private equity and venture capital firms and high net-worth individuals and families in public and private merger and acquisition transactions (including cross-border and distressed M&A transactions), corporate control contests, strategic partnering arrangements, public and private capital raising transactions and general company representation matters. Mr. Hernand works with companies with a broad array of industries ranging from consumer products to energy, and has extensive experience working with technology and new media companies.

Mr. Hernand's recent transactional experience includes :

- Machinima's $35 million preferred stock financing led by Google Ventures (representing Machinima)
- The Honest Company's $27 million preferred stock financing led by General Catalyst, IVP and Lightspeed (representing The Honest Company)
- Madison Tyler Holdings' combination with Virtu Financial and investment by Silver Lake Partners (representing MTH management)
- SK Telecom's preferred stock investment in Viki.com (representing SK Telecom)
- Nordstrom's acquisition of HauteLook (representing Nordstrom)
- Disney's acquisition of Playdom (representing Playdom)
- EBay's sale of 65% of Skype to a private equity consortium (representing Goldman Sachs)

- Microsoft's unsolicited offer to acquire Yahoo (representing Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers)
- Merger of William Morris and Endeavor (representing William Morris' board of directors)
- Sale of Club Penguin to Disney (representing Club Penguin)

In the technology sector specifically, Mr. Hernand has been involved in many of the most significant technology company M&A and investment transactions in Southern California in recent years, including transactions involving Business.com, DemandMedia, Homestore, IGE, Intermix (MySpace), LegalZoom, LowerMyBills, Oversee, PriceGrabber, Provide Commerce, ReachLocal, Rent.com, and SeeBeyond.

Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. Hernand practiced with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher from 2007 to 2012 and before that a partner at Latham & Watkins. Mr. Hernand also previously was a managing director of Idealab, a Pasadena, California-based technology company incubator, and was the founding CEO of New.net, an Idealab portfolio company. Mr. Hernand is a past Co-Chair of the Corporations Committee of the Business Law Section of the California State Bar and currently is a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association. Mr. Hernand also serves on the boards of The Painted Turtle and the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk, and is Chair of the Strategy Committee for the Socrates Program at the Aspen Institute.