Richard C. Bruder

Richard’s practice includes: helping venture capitalists, angel investors and entrepreneurs negotiate and close funding rounds; representing buyers and sellers in merger and acquisition transactions; creating advisory boards for his entrepreneurial clients; providing “strategic legal advice” and, helping family-owned businesses survive and thrive.

Richard’s ideal clients include: 1) High potential entrepreneurs with a “change the world” business who need a sophisticated, efficient deal lawyer to help them navigate stages of growth. 2) Successful businessmen and women who are presented with the opportunity for a “great deal,” but aren’t sure where to begin to get the deal done. 3) Power users of legal services (second stage entrepreneurs whose business model often requires frequent use of a lawyer) who can experience lower fees and better quality legal services through a relationship-based fixed fee pricing model.

Richard has handled hundreds of early stage companies/funding rounds during his 35+ years of practice. In the past six years he has handled 38 funding rounds since coming to Kemp Klein – about one every other month. Since a funding round takes 60-90 days to close, there has seldom been a time when he hasn’t been working on at least one funding deal during this period, often two or more at the same time.

Richard says, “This work is the most satisfying work that I do. The investors and entrepreneurs that I represent literally ‘change the world’ through the products and services they bring to the market.”

Richard serves as counsel to Plymouth Venture Partners I, LLC (a $20 million early stage investment fund), Plymouth Venture Partners II, LP (a $40 million venture fund), Plymouth Venture Partners III, LP (a $60 million venture fund) and Plymouth Growth Partners IV (a $40 million venture fund); he has also served as counsel to two funds out of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business (The Frankel Fund, led by Professor Tom Porter, and the Social Venture Fund, led by Gautam Kaul, Ph.D.).

Prior to joining the Kemp Klein Law Firm, Richard founded and for 7 years served as managing partner of his own law firm, Enterprise Law Partners, PLLC. Prior to forming Enterprise Law Partners, PLLC, Richard spent 20 years as a senior partner at a prominent business law firm in the metro Detroit area. While at that firm, Richard was a member of the firm’s corporate practice group primarily advising clients on corporate finance transactions as well as mergers and acquisitions activities. His specialty areas included traditional bank financing, mezzanine lending, venture capital, seed and start-up financing, mergers, stock and asset deals as well as leveraged recapitalizations of family-owned businesses.

In his earlier years, Richard practiced law for five years at one of the largest law firms in downtown Detroit, where he engaged in a general practice, representing clients including the Detroit Lions, the Ford Family Foundation, Comerica Bank as well as a variety of other business entities.