Tiffany Duke

Managing Attorney

Tiffany Duke is the founder of Nova Law. Tiffany works with seed-stage startups, investment funds, and individual Angel investors with a focus on formation, due diligence, venture financing, general corporate matters, intellectual property licensing, and commercial contracts.

• Licensed in California

• Florida Bar Application

Icebreakers

favorite books:

Capitalism In America

Red Notice

Countdown to Zero Day

favorite quotes:

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Leonardo da Vinci

"The great lawyers are the ones who can see in a given set of facts or doctrine what others cannot, or will not."

cool places i've lived:

In a yurt in the Sierra Mountain wilderness at 10K ft elevation for 4 summers.

Waikiki for 5 years.

Shanghai for 1 summer.

favorite podcast:

Wild Things: Space Invaders

My Story

Becoming a Startup Lawyer

My legal journey began with the intent of focusing on startup law. Entrepreneurs are the true modern pioneers and I have a lot of respect for the entrepreneurial spirit - people who wake up every day and chose to build something that will benefit society and create new jobs, even though it's scary and there's zero guarantee of success. I didn't just want to be a lawyer, I wanted to be a part of that community.

For law school, I chose to study at Santa Clara University's School of Law because of its prime location in Silicon Valley in the heart of the startup and venture capital world. At SCU Law, I enrolled in every course offered that would help me as a startup attorney, such as Business Organizations, Corporate Finance, Securities Regulations, Mergers & Acquisitions, Intellectual Property Survey, Technology Licensing, and was awarded a prestigious Witkin Award for my coursework in the Legal Issues of Startup Business.

During 1L summer, I interned in the corporate transactions department of China's largest national law firm in Shanghai and attend Chinese Business Law courses at Jiao Tung University. During 2L, I interned for SCU Law's prestigious Entrepreneurs' Law Clinic and was offered an internship at Framework Law Group based in Los Angeles. At Framework, I gained meaningful exposure to hundreds of startups, creatives, and small businesses and the many legal challenges they face.

I graduated law school a semester early with a J.D. and a Certificate in Corporate Law, High-Tech Law Specialization, passed the first offered California Bar exam, and accepted a full-time Associate position with Framework where I spent a total of 2.5 (including my internship). In late 2019, I was offered an opportunity to work with at another great startup law firm, SPZ Legal in the Bay Area.

Eventually, I realized that I wanted my own law firm with my own brand where I could experiment with offering more innovative, efficient, and affordable legal services.

Welcome to Nova Law.