NEW YORK
Julian Russo
Partner
New York
(212) 209-3008
Julian represents emerging growth companies, founders, and venture capital investors, with a focus on artificial intelligence, web3, and emerging technology. He serves as outside general counsel to companies across the corporate lifecycle, advising on formation and governance; SAFE, preferred equity, and token financings; strategic commercial contracts; and mergers and acquisitions, including onshore and offshore token-launch structuring. He is frequently engaged on structurally complex matters — recapitalizations, restructurings, and transactions involving layered capital structures and competing stakeholder interests — and also represents founders personally on employment, equity, and separation matters. Beyond technology, his clients include media companies, consumer brands, and e-commerce businesses.
Prior to joining Reitler, Julian co-founded Ketsal PLLC in 2018 and led the Chambers-ranked crypto and fintech boutique for seven years, advising prominent projects including Tools for Humanity (Worldcoin), Layr Labs (EigenLayer), Aleo (Provable), and the Bittensor protocol. Earlier in his career he was a corporate associate at Davis Polk, Wilson Sonsini, and Cooley.
As a co-founder of a Y Combinator–backed startup while in law school, Julian brings a firsthand operator's perspective to venture clients — an understanding of how founders actually make decisions, and legal advice built to serve those decisions rather than slow them down.
Education
- University of Chicago Law School (J.D., 2011)
- Cornell University (B.A., 2005)
Admissions
- New York
Practices
- Venture Capital & Emerging Companies
- General Corporate
- Corporate Governance
- Mergers & Acquisitions
Experience
- Founder & Partner, Ketsal (crypto/FinTech boutique)
- Y Combinator, Summer 2011