General Counsel

Roger Royse is a partner in the Palo Alto office of Haynes and Boone, LLP and practices in the areas of corporate and securities law, venture capital and mergers and acquisitions. He works with companies ranging from newly formed tech startups to publicly traded multinationals in a variety of industries.

Roger is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and former chair of several committees of the American Bar Association Sections of Business Law and Taxation. Roger has been an instructor or professor of legal, tax and business topics for the Center for International Studies (Salzburg, Austria), Golden Gate University School of Law and Stanford Continuing Studies.

Roger is a nationally recognized authority on agtech – the technology of food production - and the legal considerations for companies in this industry. Roger is also the author of Dead on Arrival: How to Avoid the Legal Mistakes That Could Kill Your Startup and 10,000 Startups: Legal Strategies for Startup Success and has been interviewed and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fox Business, Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, Tax Notes, Inc. Magazine, Nikkei Asian Review, China Daily, San Francisco Chronicle, Reuters, The Recorder, 7X7, Business Insurance and Fast Company.

Roger is also a Certified Public Accountant (California non-Attest).

Professional and Community Activities

Board Member, Asian Inc.

Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel

California Co-Chair of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation

American Bar Association (“ABA”) Business Law Section Liaison to the Section of Taxation

Member, Executive Committee, California Lawyers Association, Taxation Section

Chair, City of Menlo Park Finance and Audit Committee (2021-2022)

Palo Alto Area Bar Association, Past President

State Bar of California Past Chair, Tax Policy, Practice and Legislation of the Taxation Section

Member of the ABA Task Force On Tax Legislation (2018-2019)

Past Chair of the Committees on Tax Practice Management and Tax Policy of the ABA Tax Section; Past Chair of the Taxation Committee of the Business Law Section; Past California State Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates