Louis Lehot, Partner at Foley & Lardner

Louis Lehot
May 24, 2021
10 min read

Louis Lehot is a partner and business lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP, based in the firm’s Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Los Angeles offices, where he is a member of the Private Equity & Venture Capital, M&A and Transactions Practices and the Technology, Health Care, and Energy Industry Teams. Louis focuses his practice on advising entrepreneurs and their management teams, investors, and financial advisors at all stages of growth, from garage to global. Louis especially enjoys being able to help his clients achieve hyper-growth, go public, and to successfully obtain optimal liquidity events. Prior to joining Foley, Louis was the founder of a Silicon Valley boutique law firm called L2 Counsel.

You recently joined Foley & Lardner. How did that come about?

Louis Lehot and colleagues associated with his former boutique law firm, L2 Counsel, joined Foley & Lardner LLP in February 2021 to serve clients from an AmLaw Global 50 firm that serves clients entrepreneurially. Now, the firm's clients will have access to Lehot and his colleagues' experience, as well as to a plethora of other like-minded lawyers supported by a world-class professional staff and high-end technology. It also offers the opportunity to help Foley & Lardner increase its presence on the West Coast. Louis Lehot is at his best when he is collaborating with others to help realize a vision. He and his colleagues are excited about what comes next, as Joining Foley is a logical outgrowth of the path embarked on when he launched L2 Counsel.

The idea for launching a new, innovative law practice, and now housing it within a global firm, originated from Lehot's passion for enabling disruptive entrepreneurs and investors at all stages of the growth curve to reach new heights. This ranges from entrepreneurs coming out of the venture capital and private equity investors of Stanford University labs, to CEOs of large publicly traded “bigtech” and life science businesses. In his daily life as a Silicon Valley lawyer, Louis Lehot helps entrepreneurs move from ideation to formation, from formation to Minimum Viable Product (MVP), from MVP to commercial shipment, from financing to scaling, from scaling to global, and then from global to exit.

Lehot believes that we are at our best when we form relationships on a foundation of mutual trust and confidence that is earned many times over, and every day. He and his colleagues are known for fostering relationships with and among some of the very best industry professionals, entrepreneurs and investors, buyers and sellers. These connections inside and outside their areas of legal expertise empower their clients with a framework for successful innovation and monetization.

Life is about relationships. Knowing who people are is very different from being able to make qualified introductions. Foley & Lardner's ability to connect and collaborate with leaders across industries creates real innovation. And the associated value they offer their growth and established company clients is what they do best.

Inevitably, Lehot's idea comes from the belief that a deep focus on the innovation economy will lead the world to a better place.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

Louis Lehot is always trying new 'hacks' to improve his effectiveness and productivity, and firmly believes that it’s about adopting and maintaining good habits.

When Louis is truly present, he is listening, empathizing, strategizing, and dispensing guidance and advice. If he can do one thing for a client, it is to make them feel covered. People never forget how they are made to feel. Whatever track record of success and productivity Louis has experienced is predicated on the fact that he remains present on one task, one relationship, and one goal at a time. This allows the force of impact of his advice to give cover to his clients to proceed safely in everything that they do. Despite the myriad of distractions and commitments, when meeting with or on the phone with a client, that conversation is Louis's sole focus. By remaining true to his heart and mind, he mitigates the risk of overlooking a detail or missing an opportunity to provide value. This discipline enhances productivity over time.

Productivity is based on being present, being fully in the here and now, and Louis Lehot recognizes his inherent need for help to stay focused and disciplined. With time, he has learned that this requires good habits. People are what they eat, and how much they sleep. People's ideas and thoughts are their reality, and Louis believes that it is always a great time to find new 'hacks' to establish better habits to enable presence and productivity.

Louis always tries to get to bed at a regular time and consistently affords himself a full night’s sleep. It is not always easy, but consciously striving for the very same is a key part of the balancing act.

Louis Lehot tries to start his day with guided meditation, gratitude, and forgiveness practices, and accesses them through apps like Omvana from Mindvalley on his phone. Embracing technology-based solutions and finding new techniques enables growth. Morning practice takes 15 minutes, and includes amplifying positive thoughts, expressing thanks, counting blessings, and removing negative charges through forgiveness, all helping Louis stay grounded. Incorporating physical exercise into his daily routine is a challenge, but such exercises are necessary for mental as well as physical fitness. Early morning is perfect for 15-30 minutes of Peloton time.

On weekends, Louis makes superfood green veggie smoothies for the week with his daughter to ensure healthy nutrition to start each day. His favorite ingredients are spinach, leafy green and rainbow chard, avocado, celery, and a pinch of ginger. He prioritizes fresh foods with plenty of vegetables, and minimizes consumption of sugar, processed foods, and alcohol, whch is a challenge for wine lovers. While he consumes copious amounts of espresso throughout the morning, he balances the caffeine with at least a liter of water to stay hydrated.

Then it’s full speed ahead to get his children Adam and Ella to school, and get himself to the office. While remote work will likely continue into the near future, Louis Lehot values face-to-face communication with teammates and clients, setting meetings between 9am to 11am and 2pm to 5pm, where possible. He makes a priority of leaving his office several times a week to attend events, host meals, and visit with those people in his network he admires, all while observing safety protocols. Louis finds it important to see clients directly, as they appreciate the emphasis on communication and commitment ensuring that they stay abreast of the issues that matter to them.

When confronted with negative thoughts and anxieties, Louis takes the time to thank the universe for the many opportunities afforded, and blessings received. This commitment to gratitude helps him overcome the inevitable challenges he encounters. Because life is short. Success is leased and rent is due every day. Staying present and grateful is the key to being productive.

How do you bring ideas to life?

To bring an idea to life, it has to be boiled down to its most integral parts, and built from there, collaboratively, taking care to solve a problem that needs solving, and creating something for the greater good. People persevere when inevitable roadblocks occur, and can do so because they keep their vision in clear sight. As Peter Block wrote, in his wonderful book of the same title, “The answer to how is yes.”

What’s one trend that excites you?

As we begin to emerge from the depths of the pandemic, Louis Lehot is more convinced than ever that private industry, academia, and the government will unite to drive a new revolution in regenerative medicine.

Concurrently with a renewed focus on public/private partnerships, Louis believes that digital transformation will rapidly accelerate the adaptation of business models and operations to a remote workforce. While Zoom and Webex have been ubiquitous names in remote video and document collaboration for some time, established blue-chip companies are also evolving. Last April, Verizon spent $500 million to acquire BlueJean Networks, a competing venture-backed video and document collaboration tool with unique features. The combination of BlueJean with Verizon’s massive installed customer base will further strengthen its opportunity set as a formidable competitor. The world is more likely than ever to witness a technological arms race between these three competitors to develop new and better features for remote video and document collaboration.

Additionally, demand for artificial intelligence, machine learning, workflow automation, dev-ops, blockchain, cyber-security, and healthcare solutions will enable digital transformation, augmented analytics, and smarter cities for remote living. These developments may further catalyze investors to deploy massive amounts of capital to these sectors.

For example, according to communications and research firm Mercom Capital Group, venture capital funding for telemedicine companies surged in the first quarter of 2020 to $788 million. That funding level was more than triple the amount telemedicine companies raised in the first quarter of 2019.

As the technology and health solutions required to meet the needs of the times accelerate, they will intersect with issues of personal privacy. Lawyers will be asked to come up with tools to balance the needs of society with individual civil liberties. Louis Lehot is working with multiple entrepreneurs designing business models that synergize both missions.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Louis Lehot's grandfather was an immigrant to the United States from Sweden right before the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The experience taught him, and eventually Louis, that the key to success lies in practicing positive thinking, and always contributing value to relationships, whether solicited or not. Despite surviving the great earthquake and the ensuing fire at a very young age, then navigating two world wars and the Great Depression, Louis's grandfather never let bad news be the story of his life. As Bob Proctor wrote, “[t]houghts become things.” So being positive in one's mind translates into positive outcomes. To manifest a positive outcome, a person must have positive thoughts. As Proctor says, “[i]f you see it in your mind, you will hold it in your hand.”

In the midst of the global pandemic this year, Louis Lehot has helped many clients apply for assistance from the SBA to make payroll and other time-sensitive payables. He has consoled clients through their troubles, and helped formulate new avenues for moving forward with those clients whose transactions were canceled or delayed by their counterparties. In other instances, he has helped professionals navigate an exit from their firms. He spends countless hours a week making thoughtful and targeted introductions between entrepreneurs, investors, and professionals seeking potential new opportunities. Rather than asking clients to pay him for these mission-critical tasks, often undertaken in their hour of greatest need and when they have the least available resources, Louis does not seek financial compensation. As Churchill said, there are times when “[w]e make a living not by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

In addition to finding ways to contribute value to entrepreneurs, Louis Lehot spends time every day following their companies, industries, competitors, and how current events may impact their businesses. Always going the extra mile for his clients is how he has built loyalty and trust. Louis grows opportunities for his clients and his practice by planting seeds and watering them regularly. While there is never a transactional quid pro quo to these contributions, he is infinitely more productive for entrepreneurs when concentrating on giving and not getting.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Growing up in Oakland, California, Louis Lehot wondered and worried whether he would ever be able to impact the world in a meaningful way. Telling himself that if he worked harder, and with a singular focus on the next step, that he would succeed, he was fortunate to have support from a strong group of inspirational people, including teachers, counselors, coaches, clergy members, his parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Their encouragement and belief in him instilled a confident resolve in his desire to become his very best, so that he could help other people. Louis adopted very simple rules, the most important of which was to always do well by people, and to invest in himself and all those around him. With the heritage of this rich set of immigrant values and a positive outlook, Louis stuck to the principles taught by his parents and grandparents.

Louis insisted that he be true to himself, to follow his heart, so that all he wanted to accomplish would come to fruition. His advice to his younger self would be not to worry about the future so long as he remained true to his core values. He would have patted himself on the back more, and engaged in more exercises of self-love, positive self-talk, and affirmations. This would have helped the younger Louis Lehot to be more confident, and start his journey to help people help the world sooner. To be self-aware, and know what is needed at a specific time, is truly a skill one must hone from a place six inches between the temples.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

In his professional and personal life, Louis Lehot has sought to operate as if there are no borders. That is why, prior to the pandemic, he traveled to 13 countries on 4 continents over the span of 24 months, all to serve his clients.

If one looks at the cultural diversity in America and many developed market economies, borders are more rooted in tradition than practicality.

When Henry Ford invented the assembly line, our industrial organization accelerated according to the geographic concentration of supply chains and integrated distribution channels inside the United States. As a result of globalization, success is now dependent on sourcing the very best products wherever they may be found. Client delivery is specialized at the places most economical and closest to the customer, and delivery is 'just in time'.

Indeed, the integrated assembly line and supply chain were replaced by disassembly and open-sourced supply chains, where countries are arranged according to their comparative and competitive advantages. While traditional boundaries still exist, the Internet and global trade transcend those physical barriers. Despite talk of tariffs, trade wars, and global pandemics, this trend continues to accelerate in 2021.

About Louis Lehot:

Louis Lehot is an emerging growth company, venture capital and M&A lawyer at Foley & Lardner in Silicon Valley. Louis spends his time providing entrepreneurs, innovative companies, and investors with practical and commercial legal strategies and solutions at all stages of growth, from garage to global. He focuses his efforts on technology, digital health, life science and clean energy innovation. Louis’s clients are public and private companies, financial sponsors, venture capitalists, investors and investment banks, and he has helped hundreds of companies at formation, obtaining financing, solving governing challenges, going public and buying and selling. Louis is praised by clients, colleagues and industry guides for his business acumen, legal expertise and leadership in Silicon Valley.