Norm Law Launches Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Practice with Senior Additions from Pillsbury and Bain Capital Ventures

NEW YORK, May 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Norm Law, LLP ("Norm Law") today announced the addition of Sam Lipson and Justin Rattigan as Partners and Co-Heads of its Emerging Companies and Venture Capital ("ECVC") practice. Norm Law is the first AI-native full-service law firm built for institutional and high-growth clients, combining top-tier legal talent with AI agents powered by Norm Ai to deliver legal work with greater speed, consistency, and scale.

Rattigan and Lipson previously practiced together at Cooley LLP and were most recently General Counsel of Bain Capital Ventures & Bain Capital Crypto, and Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP respectively. Currently they co-teach a seminar on emerging companies and venture capital as adjunct professors at Georgetown University Law Center. Together, Lipson and Rattigan combine deep law firm, investor, operator, and in-house experience across the full lifecycle of venture-backed companies and the funds that support them. As Co-Heads of Norm Law's ECVC practice, they will advise venture capital and growth equity firms, founders, and high-growth technology companies on financings, governance, strategic transactions, and fund-related matters.

Lipson's practice focuses on advising venture fund managers, high-growth startups, and innovative technology companies. He represents clients throughout the full lifecycle, from fund formation and company launch through financings, strategic transactions, acquisitions and exits.

Most recently, Lipson served as a Partner at Pillsbury. Before that, he was the Managing Director and General Counsel of a family office focused on investing in early-stage technology companies and emerging fund managers.

"Founders and fund managers need counsel that can match their pace without sacrificing precision and sound judgment," said Sam Lipson. "What separates a great ECVC lawyer from an ordinary one has little to do with substantive knowledge. It's the ability to anticipate how today's term sheet negotiation echoes through tomorrow's exit, to know which fights are worth having and which burn goodwill for nothing, and to be a genuine thought partner when a founder or fund manager is making a critical decision. An AI-native model reduces friction and ensures that my attention goes to the judgment that actually shapes outcomes."

Rattigan's practice focuses on advising venture capital and growth equity funds and the high-growth technology companies in their portfolios throughout the full investment lifecycle, from financings and follow-on rounds through strategic transactions and exits, with a particular emphasis on how legal judgment translates into commercial outcomes for both investors and founders. He brings the in-house perspective of a former general counsel to outside counsel work.

Most recently, Rattigan served as General Counsel for Bain Capital Ventures and Bain Capital Crypto, leading legal strategy across venture financings, fund matters, portfolio company exits and emerging technology initiatives. Rattigan joins Norm Law with the strong support of Bain Capital Ventures, which expects to continue working closely with him and the firm across investments and portfolio company matters.

"The venture ecosystem has needed a more technology-native legal model for a long time," said Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. "Justin has been an exceptional partner to BCV and built our legal function with rigor and judgment that will be hard to replicate. We're proud to support this next chapter and excited to continue working closely with Justin, Sam and the broader Norm Law team on investments and portfolio company matters going forward. The model they are building is one that our founders and portfolio companies will benefit from directly."

"The scarce resource in sophisticated legal work is no longer document production. It's good judgment. AI accelerates drafting and diligence, but technology alone doesn't transform a law firm. What matters is the infrastructure around it including the workflows, knowledge systems, and operating model that let lawyers move faster without losing context," said Justin. "Norm Law was built on the premise that legal judgment should compound across matters, not reset with every one. As mechanical work collapses from days into minutes, lawyers spend more time on what clients actually value: understanding risk, spotting second-order consequences, and helping businesses make better decisions under pressure."

Prior to Bain Capital, Rattigan practiced at Cooley LLP, representing emerging growth companies and venture capital clients on financings, M&A, and corporate matters. Earlier in his career, he founded and operated multiple technology companies, giving him direct experience on the operator side of the table from inception through exit.

"Norm Law handled a fast-paced, dynamic investment for us with a level of efficiency and responsiveness that would traditionally require more time and a higher cost," said Stevi Petrelli, Head of Blackstone Innovations Investments. "Their use of AI in transaction document review, analysis and drafting allowed a single attorney to operate with speed and precision while still delivering strong legal judgment."

The new practice reflects Norm Law's broader strategy of pairing elite legal talent with AI systems purpose-built for high-velocity legal workflows. The firm continues to expand across investment funds, private equity, real estate, and venture capital, combining experienced legal judgment with AI-native infrastructure designed for modern institutional and growth-stage clients.

"We recently engaged Norm Law on a live transaction. The speed and quality of the work demonstrated the benefits of Norm Ai's legal AI in use at Norm Law. We are excited that Norm Law plans to build out a full-service law firm that can handle a diversity of investment strategies and fund types," said Claire Jen, Deputy General Counsel at Coatue.

About Norm Law
Norm Law is the first AI-native full-service law firm built for institutional clients. It combines top-tier legal talent with AI agents powered by Norm Ai to deliver legal work with greater speed, consistency, and scale.

Norm Law's recent senior hires include former Sidley Austin chairman Mike Schmidtberger, veteran private equity partner Bill Mone and Partner in the Investment Funds practice, Jay Baris.

For more information, visit Norm Law.

About Norm Ai
Norm Ai builds the legal infrastructure for AI agents. Its systems govern how AI operates in high-stakes, regulated environments across a client base representing more than $30 trillion in combined assets under management. Norm Ai also powers Norm Law, the first AI-native full-service law firm built for institutional clients. Together, they combine legal engineering, frontier AI, proprietary legal reasoning systems, and embedded legal and regulatory expertise to automate increasingly complex legal work. Norm Ai has raised more than $140 million from Blackstone, Bain Capital, Vanguard, Citi, New York Life, TIAA, Coatue, Craft Ventures, Henry R. Kravis, and Marc Benioff.

For more information, visit norm.ai.

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SOURCE Norm Law