Meet Alex Civetta

When it comes to contracts, a start-up can’t afford a learning curve. Oftentimes, it’s the early deals — that first joint development agreement, that first customer contract — where a company can get stuck with terms that hamper growth or turn off investors, or where a company sells itself short and leaves value on the table.  The great joy of my practice is bringing creativity, thoughtfulness, and efficiency to these business and technology arrangements to help clients avoid traps and maximize value. Using interest-based negotiation skills developed through years of study, practice, and teaching at Harvard Law School, the Harvard Program on Negotiation, and MIT’s Sloan School of Management, I help clients build their companies through an enormous variety of business transactions, including licensing agreements, intellectual property–related agreements, collaboration agreements, commercial contracts, and equity transactions. I also represent companies from formation to exit as outside counsel. My love for all things tech stems from time spent as an early employee at a rapidly expanding software-as-a-service company, where I advised clients on complex software integration projects and got to see the nuts and bolts of how a company scales successfully. That experience helps me deliver legal advice through a business-practical lens.

Professional details:

• Dual practice in the Mintz Venture Capital & Emerging Companies and Licensing & Technology Transactions group

• Nationally ranked in Chambers USA in Startup Law; ranked as a Top Lawyer in Corporate Law by Boston Magazine

• Lawyer-in-Residence at the Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship

• Lecturer on Law, Boston University School of Law

• Former teaching assistant for negotiation courses at Harvard Law School, MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and various executive education programs through Harvard’s Program on Negotiation