Groupon Outsources Lawful Executive Function to Winston & Strawn (1)

Groupon Inc.’s general counsel Dane Drobny will phase down upcoming 7 days to return to legislation business Winston & Strawn as a associate.

The Chicago-dependent organization disclosed Drobny’s voluntary resignation Thursday in a securities filing. Groupon reported Drobny, who formally departs Feb. 24 for Winston, will carry on as its exterior standard counsel via at the very least the conclusion of the 12 months.

Drobny’s exit comes as the e-commerce market moves to restructure its functions. Groupon introduced past summer season that it was laying off 500 staff members. The organization cut a different 500 personnel in a next layoff round previous thirty day period.

Drobny and Winston did not respond to remark requests.

Groupon spokesman Nicholas Halliwell mentioned the organization will not title a new lawful chief to triumph Drobny.

“He will keep on to collaborate with and guidance Groupon’s board of administrators, senior management crew, in-home legal, and business partners as we drive our transformation,” Halliwell mentioned. “He will dedicate a considerable volume of his time to this new advisory job and will continue to be targeted on supporting Groupon leverage its complete potential to turn into the best desired destination for neighborhood activities and solutions.”

Drobny obtained approximately $5.1 million in overall payment from Groupon in 2021, according to the company’s most latest proxy assertion.

That sum was comprised of $3.9 million in inventory awards and far more than $1.1 million in dollars, which include a $590,000 annual foundation income. Groupon stated Drobny acquired his bonus in January 2022 “in gentle of management adjustments and to make certain stability and retention via the transition” of Kedar Deshpande as the company’s new CEO.

Deshpande has sought to slash expenditures to offset mounting losses considering the fact that taking above the company’s prime management role in 2021.

Drobny joined Groupon as its leading law firm in 2014. He succeeded previous common counsel David Schellhase, who very last yr joined Sullivan & Cromwell. Drobny had formerly been a litigator at Winston and authorized chief for Sears Holdings Corp.

Bloomberg info demonstrates that Drobny owns more than $1 million in Groupon inventory.

Winston Pipeline

Winston has near ties to Groupon, which the business took community in 2011, and its co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Bradley Keywell. The agency has finished fundraising perform for Tempus Labs Inc., a precision medicine startup established and led by Lefkofsky.

Former Winston attorneys Tracy O’Flaherty and Kevin McCormick serve as a deputy basic counsel and senior director, respectively, at Groupon. Erin Stone, an ex-Winston spouse, was also a deputy normal counsel at Groupon till previous yr. She’s now the major attorney at private keeping enterprise StoicLane Inc.

Richard Ginsberg, the previous head of Winston’s know-how and emerging corporations observe, has also recommended Lefkofsky and Keywell. Cooley hired Ginsberg in 2021 to enable the West Coast firm grow into Chicago. Cooley’s clientele include things like Keywell’s computer software startup Uptake Technologies Inc., which Groupon sued final thirty day period looking for $1.5 million in allegedly unpaid hire from a Chicago sublease settlement.

Drobny “will get no rewards below his severance profit agreement in link with his resignation,” Groupon claimed in its submitting. The firm has the appropriate to terminate Drobny’s outside the house normal counsel companies settlement at any time.

Drobny’s unvested fairness awards in Groupon will carry on to vest so extensive as he continues to supply products and services to the company. A 1-time dollars retention reward provided to Drobny very last 12 months will be subject to clawback provisions on a pro rata basis for the duration of his new arrangement with the enterprise.