Michel Narganes is a partner in Manatt’s ­­­­­San Francisco and Boston offices. She has guided venture-backed startups and other, established clients—including various technology companies, media and gaming ventures, financial institutions, health care companies and others—through licensing, technology and commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), financing matters, and developer and publisher agreements for more than 15 years.

Michel also works with disruptors in the growing cryptocurrency space with respect to blockchain-based technologies and transactions in the Web3 ecosystem. She was an early mover in this area, representing the platform that facilitated the highly publicized sale of an American digital artist’s nonfungible token (NFT) artwork in the first digital auction held by one of the largest global auction houses. She is sought after for her business-minded counsel on the convergence of cryptocurrency with other emerging industries, including the rise of tokenization in gaming and transactions in the nascent metaverse.

Before joining Manatt, Michel served as in-house counsel at a large technology company, where she played a key role in the growth of global strategic partnerships, M&A and corporate compliance operations. Michel is also an entrepreneur, having founded her own legal services firm, providing her firsthand experience tackling the gamut of challenges emerging companies face throughout their life cycles.