Blake Ilstrup joined the firm in 2003, following the merger with Venture Law Group, and has a practice focused on emerging technology companies, venture capital firms and investment banks.

Experience

Mr. Ilstrup's practice focuses on venture capital and bank financings, corporate partnerships, commercial agreements, intellectual property licensing, public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions.  He has worked with a wide variety of clients in the software, wireless, web services, digital media and life sciences industries.  Mr. Ilstrup has been listed for a number of years in the Washington Law & Politics survey as a “Rising Star” among lawyers in the State of Washington.

He has worked with a variety of technology companies, venture capital firms and investment banks, including Celebrate Express (Nasdaq: BDAY), Crosstrees Medical, Deutsche Bank, Dexterra, IceBreaker, Ikaria, IronPort Systems (acquired by Cisco; Nasdaq: CSCO), MedManage Systems, OVP Venture Partners, QL2 Software, Qpass (acquired by Amdocs; NYSE: DOX), Redpoint Ventures, Sabrix, SeaPoint Ventures, SourceLabs, Targeted Growth, TIBCO Software (Nasdaq: TIBX), U.S. Venture Partners, Wavelink Corporation, ZenZui, Zipwhip and Zonar Systems.

Prior to joining Heller Ehrman, Mr. Ilstrup was a member of Venture Law Group's Pacific Northwest and Silicon Valley offices. He has also served as Vice President and General Counsel of Qpass, a Seattle-based software company, ushering Qpass through its sale to Amdocs (NYSE: DOX). Prior to his legal career, Mr. Ilstrup served in the United States Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer aboard the guided missile cruiser USS ARKANSAS (CGN 41), during which period he made two deployments to the Arabian Gulf.