Paul Jones Email Address

Vice President Corporate Strategy

Michael Best is a full service firm with more than 230 lawyers who provide our clients with the exceptional legal service and business acumen that have defined our firm for generations. Our practice is broadly organized into the following areas, each with its own sub-practices: Banking & Financial Services; Corporate & Transactional; Energy Law; Environmental & Natural Resources; Government Relations & Public Policy; Intellectual Property; Labor & Employment Relations;

After practicing law in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, I moved to North Carolina to co-found and serve as President of a venture capital backed biotech company spun out of Duke University. Subsequently I have served as an officer, director, private and/or institutional investor in a wide range of technology-driven businesses at all stages of growth from start-up through and beyond public offerings, and co-founded and co-managed a $26 million early stage venture capital fund. I particularly enjoy working with early stage entrepreneurs to shape and evolve business plans, build teams and identify and capture strategic value opportunities. In March, 2009, I returned to the legal world at Michael Best & Freidrich, where as Chair of the Venture Best group my practice focuses on emerging technology entrepreneurs and businesses and their investors. In October, 2020 I switched my day job to Paraclete Energy where, as VP of Corporate Strategy I focus on developing and executing business and financial strategies to grow Paraclete's proprietary silicon-based technologies for radically improving the performance of Li-Ion batteries. I continue to have a part-time role as Counsel at Michael Best. Specialties: Venture capital financing; angel financing; business planning; team building; managing legal resources; M&A; IP licensing and monetization; etc.