Taney leaves Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney for Stevens & Lee

Tom Paine

Francis X. (Frank) Taney Jr., an attorney who is well known in the Philadelphia entrepreneurial and VC world and known by his many followers on Twitter by the (somewhat) self-mocking handle @scarylawyer, has left Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney, where he was a partner and served as chairman of the firm's Information Technology Litigation Practice Group. As of Monday, he is Of Counsel at Stevens & Lee, working out of its Philadelphia office at 1818 Market Street. Stevens & Lee is a regional law firm based in Reading.

Taney told Philly Tech News by email that there wasn't a single reason for the move. "First off, BIR was/is a great firm, so none of this is intended as disparaging of BIR. But I'd say that different people value different things in law firms, and I'm attracted by S&L's entrepreneurial ethos, full service platform, high profitability and lean cost structure. In addition, given my focus on emerging companies, I'm also particularly excited about the ability to offer my clients investment banking services and potential access to capital through S&L's non-law firm affiliate, Griffin Financial Group." His practice at S&L will continue to be a mix of litigation (tech, IP, antitrust, commercial) and tech related transactional/counseling.

Taney has been actively involved as a leader in many key initiatives, such as the Entrepreneurs Forum of Greater Philadelphia, PANMA and Seed Philly, as well as holding open office hours at various locations in the Philadelphia area. He also did some pioneering work on protecting virtual property in communities such as Second Life, a concept I've never fully understood. He will continue to be active and visible in the community; in fact, tomorrow he will be holding open office hours at Quorum (though I don't know if there is any open time left).

He received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.



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