Biography

Roger Royse is a partner in the Palo Alto office of Haynes Boone and practices in the areas of corporate and securities law, venture capital and mergers and acquisitions. He works with companies ranging from newly formed tech startups to publicly traded multinationals in a variety of industries.

Roger is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and former chair of several committees of the American Bar Association Sections of Business Law and Taxation. Roger has been an instructor or professor of legal, tax and business topics for the Center for International Studies (Salzburg, Austria), Golden Gate University School of Law and Stanford Continuing Studies.

Roger is a nationally recognized authority on agtech – the technology of food production - and the legal considerations for companies in this industry. Roger is also the author of Dead on Arrival: How to Avoid the Legal Mistakes That Could Kill Your Startup and 10,000 Startups: Legal Strategies for Startup Success and has been interviewed and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fox Business, Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, Tax Notes, Inc. Magazine, Nikkei Asian Review, China Daily, San Francisco Chronicle, Reuters, The Recorder, 7X7, Business Insurance and Fast Company.

Roger is also a Certified Public Accountant (California non-Attest).

Expand All
  • Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel
  • California Co-Chair of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation
  • American Bar Association Business Law Section Liaison to the Section of Taxation
  • Board Member, Cancer Patient Lab
  • Silicon Valley Advocacy Chair, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PANCAN)
  • Board Member, San Francisco County Farm Bureau
  • Past Member, Executive Committee, California Lawyers Association, Taxation Section
  • Past Chair, City of Menlo Park Finance and Audit Committee (2021-2022)
  • Past President, Palo Alto Area Bar Association
  • Past Chair, State Bar of California Tax Policy, Practice and Legislation of the Taxation Section
  • Past Chair of the Committees on Tax Practice Management and Tax Policy of the ABA Tax Section; Past Chair of the Taxation Committee of the Business Law Section; Past California State
  • Past Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates
  • Member, Peninsula Family Services Finance committee
  • Member, Menlo Park Sister Cities Committee



  • Recognized by The American Lawyer in 2022 as a “West Trailblazer” for his leadership in AgTech
  • Recognized by Northern California Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2011-2023
  • Martindale Hubbell® Law Directory with a Peer Review Rating of AV® Preeminent™
  • Recognized as a “Top Attorney” with a “10.0 Superb” Avvo Rating
  • Recipient of The Recorder Legal Innovator Awards 2014 and 2015
  • Recognized by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as the “2012 San Francisco Bay Area Chapter Man of the Year”

Education

J.D., University of North Dakota

LL.M., Taxation, New York University School of Law

B.S., Accounting, University of North Dakota

Admissions

California

Minnesota

Nevada

North Dakota

New York

South Dakota

Court Admissions

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. Tax Court