John Hession

For over thirty years, John, an acknowledged authority in the emerging company and venture capital fields, served as a business strategist and as a legal adviser to more than 400 emerging growth companies. John advised these companies on all phases of the enterprise life cycle, from cradle to culmination.

John represented clients in a variety of business sectors, ranging from biotechnology to medical devices, from healthcare services and information technology, to eCommerce and digital media, and from hardware and enterprise software to games and digital entertainment.

John structured, negotiated, and consummated more than 370 venture capital and angel financings, both debt and equity, ranging in size from $500,000 to $400 Million. He also structured and negotiated more than 300 acquisitions, representing either buyer or seller, in transactions ranging in scale from $1.0 Million to $4.2 Billion. John was also one of the very few corporate attorneys in the greater Boston area whose practice covers equity financings and acquisitions as well as joint ventures, research and collaboration agreements, and strategic alliances. Over the last three decades, while serving as general corporate counsel to his clients and advising them on equity compensation strategies, corporate contracts, and employment and consulting arrangements, John developed a specialty in structuring and negotiating joint ventures, collaboration transactions, strategic partnerships, and other technology licensing projects, both in the U.S. and overseas. His practice included both start-up and later-stage company work; equity-based compensation strategies; mergers and acquisitions, representing either buyers or sellers; corporate partnering, joint ventures and other strategic alliances involving technology transfers; license and distribution arrangements for medical device and biotechnology companies, as well as software and hardware companies; and venture capital or angel financings of technology companies.

John frequently lectured at both national and local forums on corporate partnerships, technology licensing and venture capital and angel financings. He authored or co-authored numerous books and articles on venture capital financings, strategic alliances and technology licensing. His work included chapters from published books and industry conferences on “Venture Capital Financings”, “Website Development and Hosting Contracts”, and “Internet and eCommerce Law”. John also served as an adjunct professor at Boston College Law School, where for several years he taught a course entitled “Venture Capital Fund Formations and Investments”. He served as an adjunct professor for several years at Boston University Law School, where he taught courses on intellectual property licensing and transfer, legal aspects of electronic commerce, and general technology licensing.

John has long been recognized as one of the leading venture capital lawyers in the US by the peer review and legal directory, The Best Lawyers in America, having been named in this directory for the last fourteen years. In 2013, 2014, and 2017-2021, John was recognized as an “IP Star” by Managing Intellectual Property magazine. Additionally, from 2004 through 2009 John was nominated in Boston Magazine as “one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts.” He was also named as one of The Lawdragon 500 Leading Deal Makers for 2007. In 2001, John was named by Digital Industry as “one of Boston’s best VC lawyers”, and by Boston Magazine in 2002 as “one of Boston’s best start-up company lawyers.” More recently in 2016, John was nominated as one of “The Best Lawyers in New England”. For over a decade, John has been named as a leading practitioner in the venture capital arena by Chambers and Partners International, a recognized peer review organization. In 2017, John was nominated as one of the Top 5% of U.S. lawyers by The National Law Journal.

Prior to joining Morse, John was a partner in the Venture Financings and Emerging Companies practice groups and a member of the Cooley, LLP Business department. John co-founded the Boston office of Cooley LLP, served as the initial managing partner there for several years, and helped expand the office to seventy attorneys in seven years. He commenced his legal career at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault LLP, where he practiced for more than twenty years as one of Testa’s lead attorneys representing venture-backed technology companies in all stages of financings. As a partner at Testa, Hurwitz, John structured and negotiated two of the top four acquisitions in the Firm’s history.

A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa there, John received his law degree, cum laude, from Boston College Law School. In prior life incarnations, John was variously a sales representative with a Fortune 500 manufacturer of computer hardware, Burroughs Corporation, where he was awarded Burroughs’ “Legion of Honor” award as one of the top Burroughs salespeople in the country (Top 10% of Sales), a high school English teacher (Bergen Catholic High School, New Jersey), and a carpenter in Ireland (Hugh O’Neil Construction).

John frequently devoted his weekend mornings at a local “greasy spoon” – and “off the meter” — helping entrepreneurs with their business strategy, coaching BC Law students on career planning, and assisting professionals in the technology and life science sectors seeking new opportunities or different career trajectories.