Lee Conner

Lee Conner is a Partner in the firm’s Commercial Lending Practice Group. He focuses his practice on representing financial institutions, as well as borrowers, in debt financings and other commercial and corporate matters. Lee advises his clients on all aspects of deal structure, negotiation, and documentation, including intercreditor relationships and warrants.

Lee’s 20+ years of legal experience are highlighted by almost 11 years as an in-house counsel, including nearly 9 years at Square 1 Bank, one of the nation’s leading venture lenders. While at Square 1, Lee founded the bank’s in-house loan documentation department and represented the bank on a wide variety of other commercial and corporate matters, including commercial leases, complex IT contracts, human resources, trademark portfolio management, compliance risk mitigation, and corporate governance. Between his time at Square 1 and when he joined VLP, Lee was General Counsel / Director of Human Resources for Chandler Concrete, a leading construction materials company with over 430 employees and 40 plants in NC, VA, and TN. As Chandler’s General Counsel, Lee oversaw all legal matters for the company and was a key member of executive management. Combined with his MBA training, Lee’s in-house experience helped him develop keen business instincts, empathy for the pressures faced by operational decision makers, and a knack for shaping legal protections to help businesses achieve their performance goals.

Before going in-house, Lee was an attorney with the Vernon law firm in Burlington, NC. His practice at Vernon focused on commercial, corporate, and employment matters for publicly-traded and privately-held companies.

Prior to beginning his legal career, Lee was an investment banking analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston in New York City, where he worked on mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, debt offerings, and other financing matters, and Senior Development Analyst for Interstate Hotels & Resorts.

Lee earned both his Juris Doctor and MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also received a BA with Honors in Economics.