Kickstarter Lures Away Uber Lawyer to Serve as General Counsel
Nicole Benincasa takes over as Kickstarter's top lawyer next month. She has served as a New York-based in-house lawyer for Uber for the past seven years, most recently as senior counsel of global safety.
April 27, 2020 at 11:59 AM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Corporate Counsel
Kickstarter has named Uber Technologies Inc. lawyer Nicole Benincasa as the Brooklyn-based crowdfunding platform's next general counsel.
Benincasa announced on LinkedIn that she was taking over as Kickstarter's top lawyer next month. She has served as an in-house lawyer for Uber in New York for the past seven years, most recently as senior counsel of global safety.
"Being a part of Uber's evolution since 2013 has been the thrill of a lifetime. Now, I'm excited to support Kickstarter's mission to help bring creative projects to life. Here's to the next big thing," Benincasa wrote.
Attempts to speak with Benincasa were not immediately successful. A spokesman for Kickstarter confirmed her appointment but said the company had not yet released a statement on her hiring.
Benincasa succeeds Christopher Mitchell, who left Kickstarter in January and now serves as an adviser for a stealth startup company.
As Kickstarter's GC, Benincasa will have a wide range of responsibilities, from overseeing all legal issues and outside counsel management to supporting the executive team and board of directors to handling public policy matters, including U.S. and international regulatory issues.
She joined Uber in 2013 as regulatory counsel and helped the company expand into New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont through the drafting and negotiation of model statewide ride-hailing legislation.
Benincasa stepped up in 2018 to serve as Uber's global safety counsel. She advised the firm's business team on developing company-wide safety policies and standards and also acted as primary safety legal adviser on Uber's emerging businesses, including Uber Eats and electric bike-sharing. She was promoted to senior counsel of global safety in September 2019.
Earlier in her career, Benincasa served as general counsel and operations manager of Sportaneous, a fitness app that a group of Columbia Business School students created. Fitness and health media firm Greatist acquired Sportaneous in 2013.
Benincasa is a graduate of Virginia Tech, William & Mary Law School and Harvard Business School Online.
Read More:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'The Unheard of Superpower': How Women's Soft Skills Can Drive Success in Negotiations
Tales From the Trenches: What Outside Counsel Do That GCs Find Inexcusable
Venus Williams Tells WIPL Crowd: 'Living Your Dreams Should Be Easy'
Trending Stories
- 1Justices Will Weigh Constitutionality of Law Allowing Terror Victims to Sue PLO
- 2Nevada Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Groundbreaking Contingency Cap Ballot Measure
- 3OpenAI Tells Court It Will Seek to Consolidate Copyright Suits Under MDL
- 44th Circuit Allows State Felon Voting Ban Challenge to Go Forward
- 5Class Actions Claim Progressive Undervalues Totaled Cars
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250