Biography of Gary A. Paranzino
Gary Paranzino has directed his own law practice, Paranzino Law, for more than twenty-five years.
His clients are a vibrant mix of technology companies that are venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funded, publicly-traded companies, individuals employed within such entities as CEOs, CROs, CTOs, CFOs, CMOs (both Marketing and Medical), CCOs, CXOs, EVPs, SVPs, VPs and Directors, start-up founders and entrepreneurs, Board of Directors members and Board of Advisors members, VC, PE and FinTech/Wall Street professionals in funds and firms, other law firms and lawyers, contractors, witnesses and many in other capacities in sensitive, strategic and high-stakes financial matters.
Gary launched Paranzino Law after leading legal for two historic early internet-enabled technology start-ups.
One was as Chief Legal Officer of Ashford.com, the first major luxury e-commerce company, which he helped conduct its 1999 IPO and which subsequently reached a $1 billion public market capitalization.
The other was as General Counsel of PointCast, the groundbreaking ad-supported media company which distributed personalized content from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and other premier publishers and bropadcasters to more than 1.5 million desktops. PointCast was credited with constituting over 60% of all internet traffic at its peak in the late 1990s.
As Corporate Secretary to the Board of Directors of both PointCast and Ashford.com, Gary gained invaluable insight into how start-up Boards actually operate. After these experiences Gary believed he was prepared to help all players, whatever their seat at the tech industry table, to navigate negotiations, resolve disputes and develop strategies to optimize their financial outcomes.
Paranzino came to technology law after a decade in BigLaw, defending the biggest firms in high-stakes Wall Street litigation in two sucessive financial scandals arising from disruptive new financial vehicles -- high-yield junk bonds and trading in complex financial derivatives.
In addition to litigating cases on the front-pages of the WSJ, as a young lawyer Gary also litigated complex commercial disputes, won courtroom appeals and motions, and handled first amendment matters involving press freedom, free speech and commercial speech in a legendary media law practice.
His extensive experience with how courts and litigation actually operate provides an advantage when negotiating, drafting or reviewing complex agreements.
Having coded a detailed multi-player version of Monopoly in only 4028 bytes of memory on his Radio Shack TRS-80, Gary revived his interest in computers in 1995 when he developed the first internet site for Rolling Stones fans. It advocated the supremacy of the band's then-underappreciated "Mick Taylor era" (1969-1974). Eight months later, Mick Jagger was quoted saying "Some people think that's the best version of the band that existed."
The site operated seven years, until 2002. "Some people think" he may be back at it.
Paranzino claims to be easy to talk to (for a lawyer), and even harder to shut up. He wrote every word of this legal website himself, and pioneered the use of too many em dashes -- a long time ago -- which AI likely stole from him.
When not on the phone with clients, teaching himself Docker or enjoying his computer and music hobbies, Gary enjoys spending his time with his wife and their two wonderful adult children.