• Boston University School of Law, J.D., 1994
  • Boston University School of Law, LL.M, 1995 (Graduate Tax Program)
  • University of California at Berkeley, B.A., 1990 (Economics and Political Economy of Industrial Societies)
  • California

Mark D. Bradford

Partner

San Francisco Bay Area

mbradford@vlplawgroup.com

+1 650 293 9131

Mark D. Bradford is a partner with over 25 years of expertise in executive compensation, equity compensation and employee benefits law.

Mark is one of Silicon Valley's most experienced executive compensation attorneys. He has deep experience in executive employment, equity and cash incentive, change in control, retention, severance plans, and non-competition and non-solicitation arrangements for emerging growth companies backed by both venture capital and private equity investors. Mark’s multidisciplinary practice covers areas of corporate, governance, securities, tax, and employment law relating to compensation matters. He brings a wealth of perspective regarding the culture and business needs of Silicon Valley companies when providing counsel to in-house legal, human resource, finance, tax, and stock administration professionals.

In over 250 cross-border and domestic M&A deals, Mark has represented buyers and sellers, in transactions ranging from a $7 billion sale of a major public company client, to mid-market M&A transactions, and small acquihires. For these transactions, Mark has negotiated and written deal-related agreements, including employment, incentive, retention, severance and non-competition, and worked on post-closing integration matters.

Mark is also a trusted advisor for individuals and groups of executives in management teams, from Fortune 500 C-suite members to startup-up founders, in negotiating employment, termination, retention, severance, and restrictive covenant arrangements in M&A, IPOs, direct listings, de-SPAC transactions, and significant financing transactions with outside investors.

Prior to joining VLP, Mark practiced at Gunderson Dettmer LLP, Cooley LLP, White & Case LLP, and Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP.

Mark received both his law degree and a master’s in taxation from Boston University School of Law. He received a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. 

In his free time, Mark enjoys spending time with family, cycling, learning to play the guitar, and seeking culinary adventures.

  • Boston University School of Law, J.D., 1994
  • Boston University School of Law, LL.M, 1995 (Graduate Tax Program)
  • University of California at Berkeley, B.A., 1990 (Economics and Political Economy of Industrial Societies)
  • California

Practice Areas

Executive Compensation
Executive Compensation
  • CEO and CFO of publicly-traded biotech in $1.0B sale transaction.
  • Management team at publicly-traded late-stage biopharma company in $230M sale transaction.
  • Founding management team in $1.0B sale of industrial cyber security company to Japanese conglomerate.
  • Founders of technology startup in sale to Japanese specialty chemical company.
  • Management team in sale of cloud document security company to publicly-traded cloud storage company.
  • Co-founders of package tracking app company in connection with financing transaction.
  • Founders of digital ad agency to cryptocurrency exchange.
  • Executive team at Machine Learning startup to publicly-traded semiconductor company.
  • Management team in sale of company providing platform to manage credit card loyalty programs in $275M sale to cloud-based credit card issuing company.
  • Executive team at computational drug design company in $500M sale to publicly-traded technology company.
  • Senior management team at electric vehicle charging company in connection with SPAC transaction.
  • Management team of a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company in a $3.7B sale transaction.
  • Senior executives at computer vision-powered startup to European micromobility company.
  • Senior executives at real-time data integration company to German multinational software company.
  • Management team at candidate search and recruitment marketing technology company in sale to portfolio company of private equity investor.
  • Co-founders of productivity app company in sale to AI platform buyer.
  • Executive team in IPO of AI software company.
  • Executive team at global Industrial IoT and cloud technology company to public-traded infrastructure engineering software company.
  • Executive team in acquihire sale to recruiting company.
  • Executive team in sale of fraud detection startup to leading fintech company.
  • Group of executives in $440M sale of cloud-based point of sale solution.
  • Executive team at big data platform company in connection with investment with strategic growth equity firm.
  • Executive team at national provider of energy solutions for utilities and their commercial customers in $120M sale of company to publicly-traded company.
  • Executive team at video game company in sale of company to mobile app development company.
  • Executive team at publicly-traded pharmaceutical company regarding employment and severance issues.

Industry Experience