Professional Background

James Robertson is a Partner in the Business Entities & Transactions Practice Group and Gaming & Administrative Law Practice Group. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financings, and commercial transactions. Mr. Robertson has specialty gaming industry experience and unique in-house general counsel and executive experience.

Since 2008, Mr. Robertson has represented publicly traded and privately owned companies, startups, entrepreneurs, individual investors, and investment funds in corporate and commercial transactions, corporate governance matters, and regulatory compliance matters. Mr. Robertson prides himself on providing client-focused legal services that are practical and efficient, and aligned with business strategy. He combines his unique in-house General Counsel and executive leadership experience with his outside counsel areas of expertise to advise and guide clients and their management teams in all aspects of their business operations.

Mr. Robertson’s extensive mergers and acquisitions experience includes seller and buyer-side representations in strategic acquisitions by middle-market companies and startups, industry consolidation and rollup acquisitions, private equity buyouts, and management buyouts. Mr. Robertson also regularly advises clients in loan transactions, venture capital and private equity financings, reorganizations, joint venture formations, and in connection with SEC and securities law compliance matters, corporate governance matters, and business strategy decisions. Additionally, Mr. Robertson helps clients negotiate a wide variety of complex commercial transactions, including trademark, patent, and other intellectual property license agreements, SaaS agreements, software development agreements, distribution agreements, celebrity endorsement agreements, and franchise agreements.

Unique In-House General Counsel and Executive Experience

Mr. Robertson has nearly 10 years of experience serving as in-house General Counsel and in various executive positions at organizations ranging from a publicly traded corporation to a family office and private investment fund. The corporate executive positions he has held include Chief Executive Officer, President, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary. In these in-house General Counsel and corporate executive roles, Mr. Robertson was responsible for legal and compliance departments, human resources departments, matters involving government affairs and investor relations, developing and implementing marketing, business development and sales strategies, and selecting and managing outside counsel for litigation matters, cross-border transactions, patent prosecutions, and labor and employment law matters. He also directed and coordinated SEC and NASDAQ reporting and compliance functions, prepared and reviewed Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K, annual proxy statements and other disclosure filings, and managed equity compensation plans, insider trading policies, and regulatory compliance programs.

Clients rely on the invaluable combination of Mr. Robertson’s sophisticated business insights, strategic legal expertise, and first-hand knowledge and appreciation of his clients’ daily operational issues and challenges, and the level of service and results they expect from their outside counsel.

Specialty Gaming Industry Experience

In addition to currently serving as outside General Counsel to a multi-national supplier of casino gaming products, game development studios, distributors of gaming products, and an online gaming operator, Mr. Robertson’s special expertise in the gaming industry includes previously serving as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of a Las Vegas-based group of affiliated gaming industry businesses consisting of a casino technology supplier, game insurance underwriter, mobile and online casino game developer, and a hotel, spa and casino. Mr. Robertson currently serves as a member of the Gaming Group Compliance Committee. He also previously served as Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary for a publicly traded, multi-national gaming technology supplier based in Reno and later served as its Chief Executive Officer and President. In that role, Mr. Robertson was responsible for all business activities and operations in 41 states and four international markets, provided leadership and direction to a staff of approximately 150 employees, and also led ongoing negotiations with lenders, large shareholders, and prospective investors, during a period of transformative events that culminated in the sale of the company.

Prior to joining McDonald Carano, Mr. Robertson was a Partner in a full-service regional law firm where he was a member of the firm’s Corporate, Real Estate, Securities, and Tax practice groups.

Mr. Robertson grew up in Carson City. He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and received his J.D. from the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Awards and Recognition

• Top Lawyer, M&A (2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020), Sacramento Magazine
• Top Lawyer, Business/Corporate Law (2019 and 2020), Sacramento Magazine

Professional Affiliations & Community Engagement

• Vice Chair, Corporate Governance Committee of the American Bar Association (2018 to 2021)
• Co-Chair, Corporate Governance Subcommittee on Private and Family-Controlled Entities, Business Law Section of the American Bar Association (2018 to 2021)
• Board Member, Easter Seals Superior California (2017 to present)
• Member, The Prospectors’ Club, Reno, Nevada (2009 to present)
• Member, Colvin Gaming Group Compliance Committee (2012 to present)
• Member, Sacramento County Bar Association, Business Law & Tax Law Sections
• Member, California Lawyers Association, Business Law Section
• Leadership Sacramento, Class of 2019
• Member, International Association of Gaming Advisors (2009 to 2016)

Publications

• Consumer Protection Law Developments, American Bar Association, Nevada Subchapter (2019)
• Hedge Funds and Public Disclosure Requirements: Is the SEC Telling Secrets?, 8 NEV. L.J. 787 (2008)

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