Smith Shapourian Mignano PC is a women- and minority-owned boutique law firm in San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Austin, and Oakland. We represent micro venture capital funds, technology companies, and industry-adjacent service providers who are forming and scaling their companies, fundraising, merging with and/or acquiring other businesses. Additionally, we assist our clients in managing relationships with their former companies, employees, partners, investors, service providers, or customers. We are a completely virtual law firm and rely on innovative legal technology to provide a high-touch service.
Upcoming events
September 15, 2022 - 4:00 PM PST - 5:00 PM PST - "How to Start a Small Law Firm: Building, Scaling, and Thriving" for BASF Solo and Small Firm Section
Neda Shapourian will moderate a panel entitled "How to Start a Small Law Firm: Building, Scaling, and Thriving" with panelists Mark Punzalan, Jamie Dupree, Mark Conrad, Melody Rissel and Mary Catherine Wiederhold for The Bar Association of San Francisco. Panelists will discuss (1) operation as a sole practitioner or corporate formation as an LLP or professional corporation, (2) hiring employees and independent contractors of the firm to scale and grow; and (3) drafting agreements.
September 22, 2022 - 6:00 PM PST - 7:00 PM PST - "Top Privacy Issues for Washington Attorneys to Understand" developed in partnership with the WSBA Business Law Section.
The presentation will cover: (1) Breach reporting requirements; (2) Intersection of privacy and employment; (3) Developments on US State laws; and (4) Cross-border data transfers.
September 24, 2022 - 9:00 AM PST - "Latinas Tell All: Stories of Purpose, Peaks, and Valleys In and Beyond the Farm" for Stanford Alumni Association's Women's Impact Network
Lindsey S. Mignano, in her capacity as a Board Member for the Stanford Alumni Association's Women's Impact Network (WIN), organized a panel entitled, "Latinas Tell All: Stories of Purpose, Peaks, and Valleys In and Beyond the Farm". The panel will be comprised of Jennifer Martinez, Policy Communications Manager, Reality Labs at Meta; Linda Serrato-Ybarra, State Representative at New Mexico House of Representatives; Valerie Villarreal, Consumer Social Product Manager turned Fintech Leader @ Cash App, ex Nubank, IG and Snap; and Silvia Sanchez Bor, Marine Program Manager at WildAid. Panelists will discuss what being Hispanic means to them, their experience attending Stanford, and how their diverse backgrounds place them in unique positions in their current professions. Jessica Flores, Head of Media and Executive Training at Google, will moderate.
September 28, 2022 - 2:00 PM PST - "Legal Session with Startups" for Swissnex
Lindsey S. Mignano and Sophie Alcorn of Alcorn Immigration Law will discuss best practices for foreign founders to immigrate to the US, as well as how foreign founders can flip their companies for venture financing or create subsidiaries for expansion purposes.
This event is invite only.
October 5, 2022 - 5:30 PM PST - "Founders Live San Francisco Startup Competition" for Founders Live
Lindsey Mignano, Vivek Gutheti of CFO Plans, Marissa Mar of RPS Ventures, Danielle Delancey of Wilmot Ventures and Xiaoming Yin of Lockheed Martin Ventures will host a panel and provide startups and small businesses with tips to deploy services and products. Following our panel, five awesome startups will pitch their business and with your help we will choose a winner to move onto the next step and an opportunity to join the global Prime Time competition and ultimately, the Livefest global finals. Join us for happy hour and networking, followed by our panel discussion and help us vote from five awesome San Francisco Startup pitches!
October 7, 2022 - 3:30 PM PST - "Legal Session with Startups" for Founders Embassy
Lindsey S. Mignano and Sophie Alcorn of Alcorn Immigration Law will discuss best practices for foreign founders to immigrate to the US, as well as how foreign founders can flip their companies for venture financing or create subsidiaries for expansion purposes.
This event is invite only.
October12, 2022 - 11:30 AM PST - "Recruiting and Retaining Parent & Caregiver Talent in a Post-Pandemic Legal Industry" for Bar Association of San Francisco's Diversity & Inclusion Committee of the Barristers Club
The legal profession has always been challenging for parents and caregivers, and the COVID-19 pandemic both exacerbated those challenges while also creating new opportunities. Legal employers across the industry - from small firms to large firms to corporations and government - now have a unique opportunity to rethink the way that they structure recruitment and retention policies to maximize the talent and diversity in their workforce. Neda Shapourian joins a panel with three other parents who come from a wide range of legal employers and will dig into this timely topic with our attendees.
October 15, 2022 - 1:45 PM PST - "Incompetent of Imposture" for the Bar Association of San Francisco's 2022 Barristers Litigation Summit Imposter Syndrome is something a lot of us experience. We do not realize how many of our peers feel as though they do not belong in the legal field. Teela Smith of SSM, will join a panel with two other attorneys who share their experiences overcoming Imposter Syndrome. This panel will explore the ABA and California Rules of Professional Conduct and how the Imposter Syndrome affects an attorney’s ability to ethically represent clients and how to communicate effectively with supervising attorneys, staff, clients, and the Court despite feeling like an imposter.
October 19, 2022 - 4:30 PM PST - "Alternative Forms of Capital in Uncertain Times" presented with NowCFO, CIBC and FUSE.
Kelly Lawton-Abbott will join John Flemming, Cameron Borumand, and Owen Carton to discuss the current state of the industry. We’ll be discussing topics such as market updates, seed funding, the different sources of capital from the earliest stage of funding, Series Seed and Regulation A+.
If you are thinking about raising money for your business, if you want to understand the evolution of early stage fundraising, or if you want an opportunity to network with leaders in the startup community you won't want to miss this!
November 10, 2022 - 5:00 PM PST - "Women In Venture Capital Happy Hour" sponsored by Halogen Ventures, Punch Financial, First Republic Bank, SequoiaHR and SSM
SSM and sponsors host a private event at Top Golf El Segundo to support and celebrate women in VC, and meet new people in the industry over golf, drinks and small bites.
This event is invite only.
December 1, 2022 - 1:30 PM PST - "Transformational Leadership: Moving Past Performative D&I" for The Bar Association of San Francisco's Diversity Conference
Lindsey S. Mignano will speak on a panel entitled "Transformational Leadership: Moving Past Performative D&I" for the Bar Association of San Francisco's Diversity Conference. Panelists will explore what leaders in firms and organizations can do to effect meaningful cultural change, rather than making DEI an extracurricular or selling point.