Lawrence H. Gennari

Education

Gennari received a Bachelor of Science in accounting, summa cum laude, from North Adams State College in 1986, where he was the outstanding student of the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. North Adams State College was a public college in the Berkshire region of western Massachusetts, and it was renamed the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 1997.

He then studied law at the College of William & Mary, earning a Juris Doctor in 1989 and ranking third in his class. While there he served as editor-in-chief of the William & Mary Law Review, a student-edited journal that publishes scholarly legal writing. Founded in 1693, William & Mary is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the United States, and its law school traces its origins to a law professorship established in 1779.

Gennari was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1989, the year he received his law degree.

Career

Gennari started his legal career at Ropes & Gray, a Boston law firm founded in 1865 that has long served corporate clients. He later became a partner at Gadsby Hannah LLP, where he chaired the firm's Emerging Growth and Technology Practice, which advised young companies during their early stages of growth.

He subsequently became a partner at Choate Hall & Stewart in Boston, a firm with a long history in Massachusetts legal practice. Before forming his own firm, he practiced there in corporate and securities law, working on private offerings, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, and SEC compliance for public companies.

Gennari later co-founded Gennari Aronson, LLP with Neil H. Aronson. The firm, based in Needham, Massachusetts, serves innovative companies, entrepreneurs, and the private investors and venture capital firms that finance them. Boutique firms of this kind concentrate on a defined client base, which allows their partners to focus on specialized transactional and financing work. He practices in mergers and acquisitions, securities, and corporate finance.

Alongside his practice, Gennari has taught at Boston College Law School, a law school of Boston College, a Jesuit university located in Newton, Massachusetts. As an adjunct professor for many years, he has taught courses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and advising entrepreneurs. He developed one of the law school's newer courses, Project Entrepreneur.

Gennari edited Starting Up and Advising an Emerging Massachusetts Business, published in 2001 by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, a nonprofit provider of legal education, and he wrote the chapter on early-stage capital formation. He comments on corporate finance, venture capital, and entrepreneurial topics in publications and at industry events, and he has hosted conversations in the Authors & Innovators series.

Achievements

• Gennari developed Project Entrepreneur, a student-led business fundamentals bootcamp at Boston College Law School for entrepreneurs with criminal records, many of whom had previously been incarcerated.

Works

• anthology

  • Starting Up and Advising an Emerging Massachusetts Business

    (Edited by Gennari for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Educ...)

    2001

Membership

Gennari is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the statewide voluntary association of lawyers in Massachusetts. He served on the national board of directors of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit organization that teaches entrepreneurship to young people, and on the board of trustees of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Foundation at Massachusetts General Hospital.

His advisory roles extended to academic settings. He served on the advisory board of the College of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and on the advisory council of the Program in Education, Afterschool and Resiliency at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

• Massachusetts Bar Association , United States

• National Board of Directors

  Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship , United States

• Board of Trustees

  Vincent Memorial Hospital Foundation , United States

• Advisory Board

  University of Massachusetts Boston College of Management , United States

• Advisory Council, Program in Education, Afterschool and Resiliency

  Harvard Graduate School of Education , United States

Connections

Collegue :

Neil H. Aronson

Co-founder and partner with Gennari at Gennari Aronson, LLP, Needham, Massachusetts.

References

• Martindale-Hubbell Lawyer Profile Profile of Gennari listing his firm, practice areas, bar admission, education, and peer rating.
• Super Lawyers Profile Profile documenting Gennari's Super Lawyers selections in Mergers & Acquisitions, practice areas, and Massachusetts licensing in 1989.
• Justia Lawyer Directory Profile Profile summarizing Gennari's business law practice, partnership at Choate Hall & Stewart, and his education at North Adams State College and the College of William & Mary.
• Avvo Attorney Profile Profile listing Gennari's Massachusetts license since 1989, his mergers and acquisitions, corporate, and securities practice areas, and his partnership at Gennari Aronson, LLP.
• Gennari Aronson Co-Founder Biography Firm biography describing Gennari's career at Ropes & Gray, Choate Hall & Stewart, and Gennari Aronson, his adjunct teaching at Boston College Law School, and his education.
• NFTE Profile of Lawrence Gennari Biography from the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship describing Gennari's corporate practice, teaching at Boston College Law School, and education.