DESCRIPTION

Roia Shefayee, is a founding partner at De Franceschi & Shefayee LLP, a Silicon Valley law firm advising early to mid-stage private companies and their investors on a variety of corporate legal matters ranging from entity formation, capital structure, governance, seed and series financings, technology licensing, expansion/exit strategies, and business development.

Ms. Shefayee also has an extensive background advising public and private companies on domestic and cross border mergers and acquisition deals, SEC reporting and compliance and initial and secondary public offerings.

She previously practiced corporate & securities law at Baker & McKenzie LLP and intellectual property law at White & Case LLP.

In addition to her legal work, Ms. Shefayee has been actively involved with women’s rights and human rights issues since the mid 1990’s having worked with organizations such as Global Fund for Women, Amnesty International, Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and Public International Law and Policy Group. Ms. Shefayee currently serves as a member of the advisory board for She's The First, a not-for-profit that sponsors girls' education in the developing world, helping them be the first in their families to graduate.

Ms. Shefayee is a native of Afghanistan and has traveled extensively throughout the world. She is fluent in English and Farsi and has working knowledge of Spanish and Arabic. Ms. Shefayee received her law degree from Santa Clara University. She also holds a masters degree in International Economics and Development from Johns Hopkins University-SAIS, and a bachelors in Political Economy from the University of California at Berkeley.

Visit the Afghan Development Initiative and the Afghan Development Web TV for more information.