Jennifer K. Albrecht - Partner

Jennifer Albrecht advises direct lenders, investment banks and corporate borrowers across several sectors on a wide array of financing matters, including direct loans, syndicated credit facilities and leveraged acquisition financings, as well as financings related to restructurings and recapitalizations. Previously, she was in-house counsel for several major financial institutions where she advised on private credit investments, leveraged acquisition financings, strategic fund formation, fund financing arrangements, and governance and regulatory matters.

William Allen - Partner

Named a 2021 “Rising Star” for Private Equity by Law360 and a 2021 “Top Rising Star” by The Deal, William Allen’s diverse practice focuses on public and private mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions. He regularly represents strategic clients and private equity sponsors on a broad range of domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, carve-outs, recapitalizations, dispositions, joint ventures and minority investments across a wide variety of industries, including technology and financial services.

Louis H. Argentieri - Partner

Lou Argentieri is a Partner in the Firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice. He advises public and private companies, financial institutions and private equity sponsors on a wide range of corporate transactions, including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, carve-outs, strategic investments and corporate governance matters. Lou’s practice spans a variety of industries, including financial services and technology.

Jessica A. Asrat - Partner Jessica Asrat, a Partner in the Firm’s Capital Markets Practice, advises private equity sponsors, corporate issuers and investment banks in connection with a range of complex registered and unregistered transactions, including initial public offerings, high yield and investment grade debt offerings, spin-offs and other corporate finance transactions. She also has experience in acquisition financings and provides securities law advice in connection with M&A transactions. Jessica’s transactional work spans several industries, including the healthcare, consumer and retail, industrials and manufacturing and technology sectors. She was recently named as a  Law360 “Rising Star” in Capital Markets.

David Azarkh - Partner

David Azarkh is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department, where he concentrates on capital markets transactions. He has a broad practice, assisting investment banks and corporate clients with securities offerings ranging from high yield and investment grade debt offerings, IPOs, pre-IPO financings, primary and secondary offerings, leveraged buyouts, liability management transactions and other types of capital markets transactions. Dave offers particular experience with regard to market knowledge of covenant terms and disclosure matters. He also regularly advises corporate clients on corporate governance and other general matters.

Dave is ranked by Chambers USA for Capital Markets: Debt & Equity, is lauded as “incredibly commercial” and “a bright star of Simpson Thacher’s future,” and is recognized by IFLR1000 as a “Highly Regarded Lawyer.” He regularly writes for industry publications such as Law360 and Lexis Practice Advisor®, including, “Market Trends: High Yield Debt Offerings”, “Market Trends: Block Trades”, “How to Draft Risk Factors for a Registration Statement” and “Responding to SEC Comment Letters”. Dave is also part of the TechGC network and regularly presents at TechGC’s conferences, webinars and other events on capital markets topics.

Nicholas Baker - Partner Nicholas Baker is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s New York office and a member of the Firm’s Corporate Practice. Nicholas concentrates his practice on complex capital solutions, particularly in stressed or distressed transactions, in-court and out-of-court restructurings and intercreditor arrangements. He has represented creditors, boards of directors, purchasers and borrowers in Chapter 11 proceedings, cross-border insolvencies and out-of-court restructurings. Some of his clients have included JPMorgan, Bank of Montreal, Goldman Sachs, Gramercy Funds, Apollo Capital, Solus Alternative Asset Management, Angelo Gordon and First Reserve.

Richard I. Beattie - Partner

The Senior Chairman of the Firm—and an archetype of combining a distinguished legal career with civic duty—Dick Beattie has served Simpson Thacher’s clients and has been a leader at the Firm for many years. He counsels boards on governance issues, investigations and litigation involving corporate officers and other crisis situations. He has also long advised private equity clients on mergers and acquisitions, as well as on leveraged buyouts, a transaction structure which he helped to pioneer. Dick has participated in some of the largest, most important financial transactions of his generation—including JPMorgan Chase’s $58 billion acquisition of Bank One, the merger of AOL and Time Warner and the merger of WellPoint Health Networks with Anthem.

Dick’s record of public engagement dates to the Carter Administration, in which he served as general counsel of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He was a special advisor to the Secretary of State during the Clinton Administration, and served as the President’s emissary for Cyprus as well. Dick serves as a director of the Carnegie Corporation, Harley-Davidson and Heidrick & Struggles, Evercore Partners and is a member of The Board of Overseers and Managers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is also Chairman and Founder of the nonprofit New Visions for Public Schools. The American Lawyer in 2013 named Dick as one of the “Top 50 Innovators” in the last 50 years for his role in developing the legal structures for the private equity industry from its earliest days.  He was also honored by The American Lawyer in 2011 as a Lifetime Achiever in recognition of “outstanding private sector success and a devotion to public service” and by The Legal Aid Society with its Servant of Justice Award. Prior to law school, he served four years in the Marine Corps as a jet pilot.

Ryan R. Bekkerus - Partner With more than a decade of experience in corporate finance transactions, Ryan Bekkerus regularly represents leading issuers, private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies and underwriters in high yield bond offerings, initial public offerings, follow-on equity offerings and other corporate finance transactions. Ryan also regularly advises clients with respect to corporate governance, securities laws and general corporate matters. Ryan has advised, among others, Apax Partners, BC Partners, KKR, Avantor, GFL Environmental, Barclays and JPMorgan. Ryan co-authored the “United States” chapter in Getting the Deal Through: Acquisition Finance 2019, a Law Business Research project.

Martin S. Bell - Partner

Martin S. Bell is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Litigation Department, a member of the Firm’s Government and Internal Investigations Practice and the leader of Simpson Thacher’s Equity and Civil Rights Reviews team. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Martin represents companies, boards and executives in government and internal investigations and high-profile disputes. Recognized by Chambers USA as a leader in the White Collar and Government Investigations field and by Lawdragon as among the “500 Leading Litigators in America,” Martin has also represented clients in connection with anti-discrimination and congressional inquiries. A seasoned trial lawyer, Martin has been appointed to the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the Southern District of New York, where he represents indigent criminal defendants charged with federal criminal offenses. He has also been appointed to the Attorney Grievance Committee of the First Judicial Department, which investigates complaints filed against lawyers in Manhattan and the Bronx. 

As a federal prosecutor, Martin served as a senior member of the Securities and Commodities Task Force and the Public Corruption Unit in the SDNY, and previously served as a member of the Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit. He served as lead counsel on behalf of the United States in fourteen jury trials and argued before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on nine occasions. While at the SDNY, Martin investigated and prosecuted a variety of financial and corruption-related crimes, including securities, accounting, and other financial fraud, bribery, obstruction of justice, money laundering, sanctions violations, and various offenses giving rise to civil and criminal asset forfeiture. In addition, he worked on cases involving criminal civil rights violations. Martin was honored with several awards for his service, including the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation Prosecutor of the Year Award in 2018 and the Assistant Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award in 2016. Martin was also recently named a “Rising Star” by the New York Law Journal and profiled among City & State New York’s “The 2024 Power of Diversity: Black 100” list and Crain’s New York Business’ “Notable Black Leaders.”

Prior to joining the SDNY, Martin practiced at another international law firm and was a law clerk to the Hon. Eric N. Vitaliano of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Thomas H. Bell - Partner A pioneer in private fund formation, an area in which the Firm has a pre-eminent international presence, Tom Bell founded and is a Partner in our Private Funds Practice. “Universally recognized as a leader,” as Chambers reported in 2013, he assists clients organizing an array of private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge funds and other kinds of funds for alternative asset categories. His clients have included Aquiline Capital Partners, Calera Capital, CapGen Financial, The Carlyle Group, CIM Group, CVC Capital Partners, J.C. Flowers, Macquarie, Morgan Stanley, New Mountain Capital, The Sentient Group and Sterling Investment Partners. Tom is the founder of the International Conference on Private Investment Funds co-sponsored by the IBA and the ABA.

Marc P. Berger - Partner

Marc P. Berger is Global Co-Head of the Firm’s Government and Internal Investigations Practice. Marc was formerly the Acting Director and Deputy Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement and Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, and prior to that the Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. He represents companies, boards and executives, and cryptocurrency market participants in government and internal investigations, regulatory enforcement matters, and high-profile disputes. Marc also advises clients on a range of enforcement and compliance matters, including related to cryptocurrency and other digital assets.

As Acting Director and Deputy Director of Enforcement at the SEC, Marc oversaw thousands of investigations and hundreds of litigations addressing a broad range of securities matters, including issuer disclosure and accounting violations, foreign bribery, investment advisory issues, securities offerings, market manipulation, insider trading, broker-dealer misconduct, cyber threats, initial coin offerings, digital assets and COVID-related fraud. He first joined the SEC as Director of the New York Regional Office, where in addition to supervising all New York enforcement matters, Marc oversaw all of the New York office’s compliance examinations of investment banks, investment advisers, broker-dealers, mutual funds and hedge funds.

As a federal prosecutor, Marc tried 13 cases in district court and as Chief of the SDNY’s Securities Unit he supervised some of the nation’s most significant financial and investment fraud matters, including those related to corporate and accounting fraud, insider trading, market manipulation, and violations of the FCPA. Marc’s SEC and DOJ work involved extensive coordination of cross-border and multi-agency investigations.

In between Marc’s tenures at the SEC and DOJ, Marc was a litigation partner at another international law firm where he represented global financial institutions, public companies, investment firms and individuals in numerous high-profile matters.

Andrew Blau - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice, Andrew Blau focuses his practice on compensation and benefit-related issues that arise in connection with mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, new and joint ventures and other corporate transactions. He has extensive experience in structuring employment agreements, equity compensation, performance incentives, deferred compensation, change in control protections, and management participation in buyouts and new ventures. His experience includes domestic and international M&A across a variety of sectors. Andrew also advises on the applicability of securities and tax laws to executives and employers, disclosure obligations in respect of employee benefits and executive compensation arrangements, corporate governance issues and general employment-related matters.

Joshua Ford Bonnie - Partner Co-Head of the Firm’s Global Capital Markets Practice, Co-Managing Partner of the Firm’s Washington, D.C. office, and a member of the Executive Committee, Josh Bonnie is one of the preeminent IPO lawyers in the nation and regularly counsels public companies on spin-offs and other significant strategic transactions, capital markets offerings and general corporate and securities law matters. Josh’s transactional experience also includes business combinations involving special purpose acquisition companies. Josh has been featured in The American Lawyer’s “Dealmakers of the Year,” is recognized in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and is endorsed by PLC Which Lawyer?. Josh was recently added to The Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame” for Capital Markets: Equity Offerings in recognition of his role as one of the leading capital markets practitioners in the United States.

Mark A. Brod - Partner

Mark Brod is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Corporate Department, where he concentrates on capital markets transactions involving U.S. and foreign companies. Mark regularly represents companies, investment banks and sponsors on IPOs, PIPE offerings, other equity offerings, high yield financings, investment-grade debt offerings and other capital-raising transactions. In addition, he regularly advises clients with respect to SEC matters, corporate governance, U.S. securities laws and general corporate matters.

Christopher Brown - Partner

Chris Brown concentrates his practice on banking and finance. He has represented private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, as well as public and private companies, in a wide variety of secured lending and other financing transactions. In addition, Chris has worked for many clients on matters involving general secured finance issues, debt restructurings and related corporate issues. His clients have included AEA Investors, Allegion, Alterra Mountain Company, AMG, Angeles Equity Partners, Beach Point Capital Management, Best Buy, BlackRock, Blackstone, Blommer Chocolate, Cimpress, Evercore Partners, Cohen & Steers, Francisco Partners, Frontdoor, Goldman Sachs, Hershey, Ingersoll Rand, JLL Partners, KSL Capital Partners, Microsoft, New Mountain Capital, Primavera Capital Partners, Riverstone, Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, QuarterNorth Energy, Twitter and ZoomInfo.

Catherine N. Burns - Partner Catherine Burns regularly advises the world’s foremost private equity firms and their portfolio companies and other corporate borrowers on acquisition financings, bank and bridge loan financings, refinancings and other corporate finance transactions.

Grenfel S. Calheiros - Partner

Head of the Firm’s São Paulo office, Grenfel Calheiros advises clients on capital markets and M&A transactions, with a primary focus on Latin America and especially Brazil. His clients have included a range of leading companies, private equity sponsors and investment banks in IPOs and other securities offerings, cross-border acquisitions, and other complex corporate matters. Recently, he has been involved in the SEC-Registered IPOs of VTEX, Zenvia, Patria Investments, Vasta Platform, MercadoLibre, Linx’s ADS, and the re-IPO of CPFL Energia; Braskem, BRF and Unigel in numerous bond offers; Technology Crossover Ventures’ investment in Nubank; several investments by Softbank in Latin America; Netshoes’ merger with Magazine Luiza; multiple IPOs and follow-on offerings on the São Paulo Stock Exchange; several transactions by Blackstone Real Estate Partners, including the R$1.4 billion acquisition of Alphaville; the $4.8 billion acquisition of Sadia by Perdigão and the related $2.4 billion SEC-registered equity offering by BRF S.A.; and bond offers by BTG Pactual, Embraer, Stoneco, Tupy, Iochpe-Maxion and FS Bioenergia as counsel to the initial purchasers. Grenfel spent the first nine years of his career in Simpson Thacher’s New York office. He is fluent in Portuguese.

Jonathan E. Cantor - Partner

Jonathan’s area of focus is federal income tax with a particular emphasis on complex capital markets transactions, including high yield and investment grade debt offerings, note programs, initial public offerings, liability management transactions (i.e., tender offers, exchange offers and consent solicitations), stock repurchases and asset securitizations. Jonathan also regularly provides tax advice with respect to regulated investment companies in connection with securities offerings, investment activities and fund combinations.

Rajib Chanda - Partner

Hailed as a “Trailblazer” by the American Lawyer for his legal contributions to the democratization of access by ordinary investors to private markets investments, Rajib heads Simpson Thacher’s Registered Funds practice and is Co-Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. office. Rajib has helped design investment products that have been publicly referred to as “revolutionary,” “category-killing” and “the fund innovation of the year.” Rajib also advises firms on M&A transactions in the asset management industry (acquisitions, minority investments and joint ventures). Rajib regularly represents the leading asset management firms in the world, including recent representations of Apollo, Artisan Partners, BC Partners, Benefit Street, Blackstone, Blue Owl, Carlyle, Cohen & Steers, Coller Capital, Diameter Capital, First Eagle, Golub, HarbourVest, Irradiant Partners, JPMorgan Asset Management, KKR, Lexington Partners, Morgan Stanley, New Mountain, Onex Credit, PIMCO, Sixth Street Partners, SkyBridge Capital, Starwood Capital Group and TPG Angelo Gordon, among many others.

Michael Chao - Partner

Recognized as a 2023 "Rising Star" for Private Equity by Law360, Michael Chao advises private equity sponsors and public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions, investments, dispositions, joint ventures and other significant corporate transactions across a wide range of industries. Michael’s clients have included, among others, Blackstone, Mars, Integrum, Johnson Controls, Genesee & Wyoming and Avalara.

Sunny Cheong - Partner

Sunny Cheong is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Capital Markets Practice. She represents issuers, private equity sponsors and investment banks on a wide range of securities transactions, including initial public offerings, follow-on and secondary offerings of common and preferred equity, high yield debt offerings, acquisition financings, liability management and other complex structuring matters. Sunny also has extensive experience in convertible securities transactions and private investments in public equity (PIPEs). She represents clients in a variety of industries, including healthcare, retail and technology. Sunny’s client representations include KKR, Silver Lake, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Acelity, Avantor, National Vision and PTC.

Brian E. Chisling - Partner

With a corporate and regulatory practice focused on the energy and infrastructure industry, Brian Chisling advises infrastructure investors, including electric and gas utilities, independent power producers, pipeline companies, fiber-optic and other telecommunications tower companies, private equity funds and financing parties with respect to mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures, securities issuances, financings and related federal and state regulatory issues. In the power industry, Brian has regularly advised American Electric Power, NextEra Energy, Ohio Valley Electric Corp., and various private equity clients. He has represented utility and private equity clients in numerous high-profile mergers, including ITC Holdings’ sale to Fortis, JPMorgan's sale of its physical commodities trading businesses, American Electric Power’s acquisition of Central and South West Corp., and the acquisition of TXU by a group of private equity firms. Brian is recognized as a leading regulatory lawyer in the energy and infrastructure sectors by Chambers and Legal 500

Jihyun Chung - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice, Jihyun Chung represents sophisticated private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, as well as strategic clients, on a broad range of complex corporate transactions. She regularly advises on mergers, acquisitions, buyouts, joint ventures, minority investments and dispositions across a wide array of industries, ranging from healthcare and technology to consumer products and manufacturing.

Jacqueline B. Clinton - Partner

Jackie Clinton advises on the tax aspects of a broad range of corporate matters, such as the formation and structuring of private investment funds, mergers and acquisitions, secondaries transactions, GP-led restructurings, as well as minority stakes deals. Jackie regularly represents prominent private equity sponsors on transactions across several industries, including infrastructure, technology, and real estate, among others. 

Davis Coen - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s New York office, Davis Coen is a member of the Real Estate Practice. Davis represents private equity firms and portfolio companies in a wide range of domestic and international commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, public-to-private transactions and securitized and mezzanine financings. Before returning to New York in 2016, Davis spent two years in the Firm’s London office.

Elizabeth A. Cooper - Partner

Two-time Dealmaker of the Year winner by The American Lawyer for both 2022 and 2019, Elizabeth Cooper’s diverse practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions. Co-Head of the Firm’s Private Equity Mergers and Acquisitions Practice, member of the Executive Committee and Co-Administrative Partner of the Firm, Elizabeth regularly represents private equity sponsors, alternative asset managers, financial institutions and public and private companies in a broad range of mergers and acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, recapitalizations and other business combination transactions. Her M&A clients have included Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR, Oaktree, New Mountain and Stone Point Capital. Elizabeth has also been named “Private Equity Lawyer of the Year” at The Deal Awards in 2022 and 2018 and a Law360 “Private Equity MVP” in 2022. In addition, Elizabeth has been highlighted among the IFLR1000 Women Leaders (2021 and 2022), named “Best in M&A” by Euromoney’s Women in Business Law Americas Awards 2020, included on The Deal’s inaugural “Women in M&A: The Powerhouse 20” list and recognized by Crain’s as a “Notable Woman in Law” for 2019 and 2023.

Barrie B. Covit - Partner Concentrating on alternative asset management, Barrie Covit represents some of the largest, best-known sponsors of private equity funds, including Carlyle, KKR, BlackRock, J.C. Flowers, Lexington Partners and Corsair Capital. He has represented sponsors of funds that focus on investments in specific asset classes—including energy, financial services and the secondary market—throughout the world, including in Western Europe, South Africa and Brazil. In addition, Barrie represented the U.S. Treasury Department in connection with the $30 billion Public-Private Investment Program to purchase legacy assets from financial institutions. Barrie is one of five private fund practitioners in the United States ranked in the top tier by Chambers & Partners. Chambers has cited him as a "brilliant lawyer" and noted that "he is incredibly smart and he has a great commercial sense about him."  He has also been named a leading lawyer by The Legal 500 United States, IFLR1000, and Who’s Who Legal Private Funds.

S. Todd Crider - Partner Head of the Firm’s Latin America Practice, Todd Crider advises clients in international corporate finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions and project finance. He divides his time between New York and São Paulo, Brazil. In corporate finance, Todd has led transactions in Latin America and Europe, including advising on equity and debt offerings by issuers from Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, as well as Spain and Portugal. He has handled matters for clients including BAML, BTG Pactual, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. In M&A, Todd has represented KKR, Apax, Carlyle, Patria, Riverwood and SoftBank, as well as the principals in strategic transactions, including The Boeing Company’s $4.3 billion acquisition of Embraer. In project finance, he has represented sponsors and lenders in hydroelectric projects, airport expansions, toll-road projects and gas-fired generation facilities. A frequent speaker on capital markets, private equity and emerging markets, Todd is also a leader in pro bono activities. He is a member of governing body and executive committee of the Cyrus R. Vance Center of International Justice (where he was founding chair). He also serves as the Vance Center representative to the boards of the Pro Bono Network of the Americas (Red Pro Bono de las Americas) and the Lawyers Council for Civil and Economic Rights of the Americas. Todd is also the Vice-Chair and a member of the Executive Committee of the Rainforest Foundation US and a member of Advisory Board of Howard College of Arts & Sciences of Samford University. 

Jordan J. Cross - Partner

Jordan Cross’s practice focuses on the organization, structuring and operation of private investment funds across a range of strategies. Jordan represents some of the largest and most prominent sponsors of private equity funds, including Silver Lake, Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR and Greyhound Capital Partners. He advises on a variety of related matters, including separate accounts, funds-of-one and similar custom arrangements, as well as carried interest and similar internal GP arrangements and strategic initiatives involving private fund sponsors.

Sean Dougherty - Partner

Sean Dougherty is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Corporate Department, focusing his practice on capital markets transactions. He represents clients in numerous industries, including fintech, infrastructure, information technology, healthcare, retail and others. Sean regularly represents issuers, private equity sponsors, portfolio companies and underwriters on various financings, IPOs, preferred equity issuances, restructurings, follow-on offerings, and other securities transactions.

Ismael Duran - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Banking and Credit Department, Ismael Duran advises financial institutions, direct lenders, financial sponsors and corporate borrowers in connection with tailored, complex bank syndicated leveraged finance and other commercial lending transactions, including acquisition, bridge, asset-based and other corporate financings. Admitted to practice in New York and Spain, Ismael also frequently represents financial institutions, sponsors and corporate borrowers in connection with financings in the Latin America region.

John C. Ericson - Partner

John represents underwriters and issuers in a wide variety of capital markets offerings. His extensive corporate finance experience includes high yield and investment grade debt offerings, IPOs and secondary offerings, acquisition finance and restructurings. John’s transactional work spans several industries, including the healthcare, consumer/retail, industrials/manufacturing, hospitality, auto and tech sectors. John is ranked by Chambers among U.S. and global capital markets attorneys for debt and equity, and he has been recognized as a “Next Generation Partner” in U.S. high yield by The Legal 500.

Richard A. Fenyes - Partner

Richard Fenyes is a Partner who has advised clients for more than twenty years on equity and debt capital markets transactions as well as general corporate and securities law matters. He regularly advises the Firm’s clients, including private equity sponsors such as KKR, Blackstone and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, and their portfolio companies, in connection with IPOs, acquisition financing, refinancings, debt restructuring and other registered and private offerings of equity and debt securities.

Jeannette Figg - Partner

Jeannette Figg is a Partner in the Firm’s Private Funds Practice. She advises a range of private equity fund sponsors on fund formation, fund operations and separately managed account formations. She has experience representing private fund sponsors that are active across a broad range of geographies and asset classes, including Blackstone, Carlyle, Centerbridge and Rockpoint.

Andrew T. Frankel - Partner Andy Frankel is Head of Simpson Thacher’s Insurance and Reinsurance Practice and a Partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department. He has more than 30 years of experience successfully representing clients in a wide variety of complex disputes, including insurance, securities, product liability and other commercial litigation and investigations. Andy has successfully litigated cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the United States and in domestic and international arbitrations. Andy was recognized by Law360 as a 2019 “MVP” in Insurance for his work representing insurers in several high-profile disputes, including asbestos-related direct actions and coverage disputes involving other mass tort litigations. He has been named a “Litigation Star” by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation, which has highlighted the enthusiastic praise he consistently receives from his peers. Andy has also been recognized by The Legal 500 U.S., Best Lawyers in America and as a “Thought Leader” in Who’s Who Legal. 

Bryce L. Friedman - Partner

Bryce L. Friedman, Co-Head of Simpson Thacher’s Business Litigation Practice,  represents clients in complex disputes, trials and arbitrations. He devotes a significant part of his practice to representing clients subject to allegations of fraud and False Claims Act violations and to counseling C-suite executives concerning strategic concerns, disputes and employee matters. He is regularly retained by governments and quasi-governmental entities to prosecute commercial disputes. He is recognized by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation as a national “Litigation Star,” where sources say: “He is the complete package.” Chambers USA ranks Bryce in Band 1 for Insurance Disputes, where sources describe him as “truly an exceptional lawyer,” a “notable practitioner in the field,” “outstanding,” and as someone who is “very strategic, smart in his approach and a very good writer.” He is also recognized in The Legal 500 U.S. as a “Leading Lawyer” in General Commercial Disputes and “Hall of Fame” in Insurance. Bryce has served as chair of the Firm’s Pro Bono and Legal Personnel Committees and is a member of the boards of directors of Volunteers of Legal Service Inc. and Playwrights Horizons (an off-Broadway theater company).

Matthew Gabbard - Partner

Matt Gabbard advises alternative asset managers in a variety of complex transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions and other business combinations, fund secondaries transactions (including GP-led restructurings), co-investments, joint ventures and internal economic and governance matters. 

In addition to his fund transactions work, Matt brings extensive experience representing public company corporate clients, leading private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in a variety of complex domestic and cross-border transactions.

Matt has represented a broad range of clients, including alternative asset managers such as KKR, Blackstone, EQT, Baring Private Equity Asia, Macquarie Asset Management, Stonepeak, Bridgepoint, Raven Capital Management, Angelo Gordon, Grosvenor Capital Management and Blackstone Strategic Partners. Matt has also represented corporate clients such as Ingersoll Rand, L3Harris Technologies, Avantor, Hilton Grand Vacations, American Electric Power, Ziff Davis, Microsoft and Sirius XM. 

Timothy Gaffney - Partner

Tim Gaffney is a Partner in the Firm’s Financial Institutions Practice. He focuses on mergers and acquisitions and other significant transactions and corporate governance matters. Tim regularly advises financial institutions, fintech companies, private equity sponsors, public companies and specialty lenders on mergers and acquisitions, buyouts, spin-offs, divestitures, recapitalizations, investments, joint ventures and other significant corporate transactions and corporate governance matters. He has guided various clients through cross-border transactions in numerous jurisdictions. In 2023, Tim was named a “Rising Star” in Banking by Law360.

Michael J. Garvey - Partner

Mike Garvey, Co-Head of Simpson Thacher’s Business Litigation Practice, represents the Firm’s institutional clients in a wide range of high stakes commercial disputes and international arbitrations, including shareholder litigation, antitrust litigation, M&A litigation, cross-border litigation, trademark infringement matters, insurance/reinsurance matters and internal investigations. His clients include KKR, Apax, BC Partners, L3Harris, Berkshire Hathaway, Gardaworld, PAAMCO Prisma, and Amneal Pharmaceuticals. Mike is consistently recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. and has been recognized as a national “Litigation Star” by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation. He has an active pro bono practice, including advising the Natural Resources Defense Council and advocating for prisoners’ rights, and serves on the Board of Legal Services NYC.

Marisa Geiger - Partner

Marisa Geiger, a Partner in the Intellectual Property Practice and Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice, has been recognized among leading lawyers advising on intellectual property matters and technology transactions by Chambers USA and Legal 500 USA. Marisa advises clients on the IP and technology aspects of complex corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, carve outs, minority investments and spin-offs, and the structuring and negotiation of complex, standalone IP transactions, including in the context of strategic alliances and joint ventures, collaboration and development agreements, license agreements, long-term services agreements and distribution agreements. Marisa provides broad-based counseling services covering IP and privacy and cybersecurity matters to clients in a variety of industries. She has also advised on the successful resolution of a wide range of IP disputes.

Marcy G. Geller - Partner

Co-Head of the Firm’s Tax Practice, Marcy Geller advises clients on tax aspects of a wide range of matters, including private investment fund formation, mergers and acquisitions, REITs and real estate transactions, joint ventures and corporate restructurings and bankruptcies. She advises private equity clients on tax matters related to formation of funds, including real estate opportunity and credit funds, and the structuring of investments by those funds.

Marcy is recognized as a leading tax lawyer by The Legal 500 and Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, which noted that she handles her clients’ “most complicated issues” and praised her for being “always ten steps ahead” and “really extraordinary.”

Peter H. Gilman - Partner Peter is widely recognized as one of the leading next generation private fund lawyers in the United States. His practice focuses on the sponsoring and management of private investment funds, investment management M&A and other aspects of private investing in alternative asset classes, with a focus on innovative, high-value private fund arrangements of size and import.

Peter has been named one of the “Top 30 under 40” in private equity by Private Funds Management in 2015 and 2017, a “Rising Star” by Law360 in 2016, a “Superstar Lawyer of Tomorrow” by Private Equity International in 2017, and as a leading investment funds lawyer by Who’s Who Legal in each of 2019 to 2024. Peter has represented many of the world’s leading private equity firms, including Blackstone, BC Partners, Centerbridge, Lexington Partners, Morgan Stanley, Silver Lake, Stonepeak and Alinda. 

Peter is considered a pioneer for his work on innovative “funds of one” and separately managed accounts, having established the unique Blackstone Tactical Opportunities investment program for which Simpson Thacher was highly commended in the Financial Times’ U.S. Innovative Lawyers Report and which is generally regarded as the industry bellwether for customized fund arrangements, as well as for his work relating to GP “minority stake” arrangements. Peter also regularly advises private equity clients on a wide range of high-profile private equity fundraisings across all types of asset classes, internal economic and house/team arrangements, founder succession planning and other strategic initiatives and special projects.

Peter has been at the forefront of the GP-led structured secondaries market in recent years, having completed a number of the largest structured secondary PE transactions and dedicated fundraisings in recent years on behalf of Blackstone. During the COVID-19 economic crisis, Peter counseled a wide range of alternative investment funds with respect to “rescue” financings and preferred equity / debt investments involving other hedge funds and private equity funds. 

 Peter’s published work includes articles in Getting the Deal Through and The Guide to the World’s Leading Private Equity Lawyers. Peter has spoken on a variety of topics relating to alternative asset management, including at the IBA Conference on Private Investment Funds in London, the Maples Private Funds Investment Forum in the Cayman Islands, and the Global Fund Finance Symposium in New York. 

Peter is a member of the American Investment Council’s Young Professionals Network (a peer selected network of “rising stars” in the private equity industry), the Private Investment Funds Committee of the New York City Bar Association, and the Rotunda Society of the University of Virginia. Peter is a member of the Board of Directors of the GO Project and is a member of the Vestry of Grace Church.

Peter is a guest lecturer on Private Equity at the University of Virginia School of Law and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is also a member of the Dean’s Council of the University of Virginia School of Law and an advisor to the University of Pennsylvania’s Intercollegiate Athletic Program.

Peter is a Hiring Partner of the Firm and is a member of the Firm’s Finance, Business Development, Recruiting, Knowledge Management and Attorney Development Committees.

Brian Gluck - Partner

Brian Gluck is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s New York office and a member of the Firm’s Corporate Department. Brian’s primary area of concentration is banking and credit matters. Brian regularly advises leading private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in a variety of corporate finance transactions, including acquisition financings, bank and bridge loan financings, real estate financings, fund level financings, REIT financings and refinancing transactions. His clients have included Blackstone, Stonepeak Partners, DigitalBridge, Thomson Reuters, Gates Corporation, Medline Industries, Hilton, True Wind Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures. In 2009, Brian represented the U.S. Treasury Department concerning certain financing arrangements for the Legacy Securities Public-Private Investment Program.

Ashley Belton Gold - Partner

Named a “Rising Star” in 2020 by the Fund Finance Association, Ashley Belton Gold is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Banking and Credit and Fund Finance Practices. Ashley’s practice is focused on crafting tailored financing solutions for investment funds with complex structures across a variety of asset classes, including private equity, real estate, credit, secondaries and infrastructure. She regularly advises financial sponsors on a wide range of fund-level financings, such as subscription facilities, NAV-based facilities and unsecured demand lines, among other bespoke arrangements. Ashley’s practice provides clients with flexible liquidity solutions that are increasingly essential for investment funds to competitively manage their businesses from fundraising through dissolution. 

Nicholas S. Goldin - Partner

Combining his extensive experience in private practice and as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, Nick Goldin is a Litigation Partner and Global Co-Head of the Firm’s Government and Internal Investigations Practice. He represents public and private companies, private equity and financial services firms, board committees, and executives in a broad range of high stakes and otherwise sensitive situations often involving intersecting investigations, litigation, and public scrutiny. These matters include white collar criminal and regulatory inquiries, internal investigations, cybersecurity incidents, and other critical situations that present significant legal and reputational risk. Nick also regularly provides strategic counsel to corporate leadership on crisis, compliance, and governance matters.

Nick has handled matters across virtually every industry—including asset management and financial services, technology, social media, AI, data science, real estate, outsourcing, insurance, aerospace and defense, leisure and entertainment, travel, hospitality and gaming, food services, industrial manufacturing, utilities and infrastructure, oil and gas, retail and direct sales, transportation and automotive, health care and life sciences, traditional media, and cultural and nonprofit.

Consistently recognized in leading industry surveys, Nick has been ranked in Chambers USA as among the top 15 crisis and risk management lawyers in the United States. Clients and other market participants have described Nick to Chambers USA as “a first-class legal and strategic mind,” “really extraordinary,” “incredibly insightful,” “an excellent counselor,” “a pleasure to deal with,” and the “complete package” with “tremendous judgment and outstanding adversarial skills” and “an unusual blend of understanding both the law and the business angles very well” who “fearlessly . . . defends his clients’ interests” and is “able to connect the dots probably better than any other attorney I’ve worked with.” Sources also report to Chambers USA that Nick “takes the time to figure it out, to understand our pressure points, and he manages his team to effectively get us from point A to point B,” has “the ability and desire to understand the details and nuances of complicated situations,” and provides “excellent leadership and counsel on sensitive matters requiring timely and thoughtful execution.” A client told Chambers USA that “I sleep well at night knowing that Nick Goldin is advising us.”

In addition to recognition as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA (for White Collar Crime/Government Investigations and Crisis and Risk Management), Nick has been recognized in Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders in Business Crime Defense for Corporates, The Legal 500, and Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation. Nick has been named as a BTI Client Service All-Star nominated by in-house counsel for “the absolute best client service,” as a recipient of Lexology’s Client Choice Award for Business Crime Defense nominated by corporate counsel for excellent client care and service above and beyond the other players in the market, and as a Distinguished Adviser in Investigations and White Collar Crime on Financier Worldwide’s Power Players list.

Nick has served as Co-Chair of Simpson Thacher’s Finance Committee and as a Hiring Partner. Nick was Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell Law Review in law school.

Ari Goldman - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Real Estate Practice, Ari Goldman regularly represents private equity firms and portfolio companies on a broad range of commercial real estate financing transactions (including CMBS, balance sheet, mezzanine, agency and construction financings) across a variety of asset classes (including industrial, life science, data center, office, studio, hospitality, self-storage and retail).

Jonathan Goldstein - Partner

Jonathan Goldstein advises clients on private investment fund formation, the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions (including tax-free spin-offs), tax matters regarding financial institutions, renewable energy transactions, financing transactions, corporate restructurings and bankruptcies, cross-border tax matters and partnerships and other joint ventures. At the NYU School of Law, where he earned his LL.M. in taxation, Jonathan won the Harry J. Rudick Memorial Award for “demonstrated excellence in taxation throughout” the program. Jonathan is recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and in The Legal 500 U.S. as a Next Generation Partner. In addition, he was named one of Mergerlinks’ Top Tax Lawyers in North America in each of the past four years, with a #1 ranking in 2021. Earlier in his career, Jonathan was named a “Rising Star” in tax by Law360.

Elisha D. Graff - Partner

Elisha Graff is a Co-Head of the Firm’s Special Situations group and a Partner in the Firm’s Restructuring Department at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. He regularly represents clients in connection with out-of-court restructurings and Chapter 11 cases. His work has focused primarily on advising companies in connection with their in-court or out-of-court restructurings, equity sponsors in connection with the restructuring of their portfolio companies, and financial institutions with their loans to distressed companies. In addition, Elisha is often called on by Simpson Thacher’s investment banking and private equity clients for advice on how to restructure the debt profiles of their portfolio companies. Elisha is a member of the Firm’s Opinion Committee and Pro Bono Committee. Elisha is a member of the board of trustees of the Beth Din of America and a founding member of his synagogue.

Gregory T. Grogan - Partner Greg Grogan is Head of the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice and focuses his work on executive retention and motivation in M&A transactions and IPOs, with a particular focus on private equity. Greg is rated in the highest categories of Chambers (Band 1) and Legal 500 (Hall of Fame). Chambers has described Greg as “a fabulous commercial lawyer,” “very technically proficient, practical, timely, responsive and just a wonderful lawyer.”

Deborah Gruen - Partner Deborah Gruen advises sponsors on private equity fund formation and operations across numerous asset strategies, including infrastructure funds, buyout funds and real estate funds. She regularly advises some of the world’s most prominent fund sponsors, such as Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, Carlyle and KKR, among others. Deborah was recently recognized by Law360 as a Fund Formation “Rising Star” for 2023 and was also selected as a member of Law360’s 2022 Private Equity Board.

Peter Guryan - Partner Peter Guryan, Global Co-Chair of the Firm’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice, is a leading antitrust lawyer with extensive experience in civil and criminal antitrust matters for major corporations and private equity firms. He has represented clients in obtaining antitrust approvals in numerous high-profile and challenging transactions, often global in scope, and in other government antitrust investigations before the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and competition authorities outside of the United States. Prior to joining private practice, Peter was a trial attorney in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. Peter is consistently recognized as a leading antitrust lawyer by Chambers USA and The Legal 500, where sources describe him as “calm and collected” and “extremely bright and business friendly” with a “tremendous depth of knowledge.” Peter was recently shortlisted for “Dealmaker of the Year” by Global Competition Review in its GCR 2024 Awards.

Olga Gutman - Partner

Olga Gutman focuses on hedge funds, private equity funds and investment management matters. She regularly represents sponsors of such private equity and hedge funds as Apollo Global Management, Citigroup Alternative Investments, Coatue Management, CVC Credit Partners, Deep Track Capital, Grosvenor Capital Management, Intermediate Capital Group, Islet Management, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, MatlinPatterson Global Advisers, New Holland Capital, Palladium Equity Partners, Pomona Capital, Portfolio Advisors, Tiger Management and Westbrook Partners. She additionally advises clients on strategic investments (including secondary transactions) and M&A transactions executed by asset management firms. Olga is a frequent lecturer before professional groups on private investment funds and is on the faculty of Cornell Law School. Chambers has cited her as a “super commercial, highly responsive and incredibly intelligent” and includes a quote from Olga’s client stating that she is "a wonderful attorney: incredibly hard-working, responsive, and she has true expertise. I hold her in the highest regard."

Drew Harmon - Partner

Drew Harmon is a Partner in the Corporate department at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Drew’s practice focuses primarily on advising asset managers on some of their most complex transactions, including high-profile fund formation projects, mergers & acquisitions, secondaries transactions and founder transitions. In addition, his practice frequently includes matters relating to regulatory compliance and internal economic arrangements.

Benjamin N. Heriaud - Partner

Ben Heriaud is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department who advises corporate, private equity sponsor and investment banking clients on finance transactions and corporate governance. Ben specializes in acquisition finance, hybrid and private capital, initial public offerings and high yield debt offerings. He also regularly counsels clients in connection with mergers and acquisitions. Ben works with companies in many industries, with a focus on technology, healthcare and industrials.

Jason A. Herman - Partner

Jason Herman is a Corporate Partner focusing on the organization, structuring and operation of a wide range of private investment funds, including buyout funds; credit funds (including direct lending, distressed, mezzanine, structured credit and other credit opportunity funds); real estate funds (including opportunistic and core+ funds); infrastructure and climate solutions funds; and funds tailored for insurance solutions strategies. In addition to traditional private equity fundraising initiatives, Jason regularly advises sponsors with respect to customized fund arrangements, co-investment vehicles, and carry plans and other internal arrangements. He represents leading domestic and international sponsors in fund formation matters, including KKR, Blackstone, Morgan Stanley, BGO, J.P. Morgan, CBRE, Affinius Capital, a16z, Jefferies Credit Partners and Generate Capital. Chambers has cited him as “an incredibly strong service provider,” with a gift for approaching issues “with a great sense of practicality.”

Michael T. Holick - Partner

A Corporate Partner in the Firm’s New York office, Mike Holick regularly advises private equity firms and public and private companies in connection with mergers and acquisitions, investments, carve-outs, joint ventures, recapitalizations and other corporate transactions. He has experience representing clients across a variety of sectors including healthcare, technology, infrastructure, energy, financial services, and industrials and manufacturing.  His clients have included private equity firms such as Apax Partners, CDPQ, EQT, First Reserve, Goldman Sachs and Patricia Industries as well as large corporations, such as Certara, First Data, First Transit, Gerdau, ITC, Waystar and Yageo. Mike has served on the Private Equity Advisory Board for Law360 and has been recognized as a Notable Practitioner by IFLR1000 and Rising Star by Super Lawyers.

Steven Homan - Partner Partner in the Firm’s Private Funds Practice, Steve Homan focuses on the sponsoring and management of private equity funds, including buyout funds, real estate funds, credit funds, infrastructure funds, co-investment funds and hedge funds, as well as investment management M&A and other aspects of private investing in alternative asset classes. Steve’s clients have included Blackstone, KKR, Stonepeak, Morgan Stanley, Pretium, Portfolio Advisors and Riverstone.

Sage E. Hughes - Partner

Sage Hughes is a Partner in the Firm’s Private Funds Practice and regularly advises some of the largest and most well-established private investment fund sponsors, including Blackstone, The Carlyle Group, HarbourVest, KKR and Morgan Stanley. She focuses on the formation, structuring and operation of onshore and offshore private investment funds and has deep experience in assisting sponsors on the development of vehicles across a range of strategies, including buyout, growth, infrastructure, credit, real estate and many others. Sage also regularly advises sponsors on governance and other internal sponsor arrangements, “funds-of-one,” separately managed accounts, co-investment vehicles, structured secondary transactions and regulatory compliance matters, as well as in connection with their investments in other asset managers.

Eli G. Hunt - Partner

Eli Hunt is Co-Head of the Firm’s Energy and Infrastructure Practice and a Partner in the Corporate Department. He represents public and private companies, including private equity funds and strategic investors, in connection with mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, reorganizations and other general corporate matters. Eli has represented U.S. and non-U.S. companies in a wide range of industries and sectors, including energy, oil and gas, infrastructure, manufacturing, retail, technology, healthcare and services. Recently, Eli was named a 2021 “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer and an “MVP” in Energy for 2020 by Law360.

Eli Isak - Partner

A member of the Firm’s Banking and Credit Practice, Eli Isak represents leading private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies on a broad range of financing transactions, including acquisition financings, bank and bridge loan financings, refinancings and recapitalizations. His recent private equity clients have included EQT, BC Partners, Goldman Sachs PIA, First Reserve, Silver Lake and Blackstone, among others. Eli also has advised strategic clients such as Aramark, Electronic Arts, Walgreens Boots Alliance, SMART Modular and Copart on a wide variety of corporate finance transactions. In addition to private equity sponsors, he also advises family offices on various debt financings, including traditional credit facilities, lines of credit and margin loans financing the acquisitions of securities, art, aircraft and/or other personal property.

Danielle C. Jackson - Partner

Named a “Rising Star” in Real Estate by IFLR Americas, Danielle Jackson is a Partner in the Firm’s Real Estate Practice. She regularly represents private equity firms on a broad range of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, public-to-private transactions, joint ventures and real estate financings (including agency, securitized and mezzanine financings).

Martha Kammoun - Partner

Martha Kammoun is a partner in Simpson Thacher’s Energy and Infrastructure Practice in New York, where she advises private equity sponsors and lenders on acquisitions, investments and financings in the infrastructure sector, with a focus on renewables and the energy transition. Martha's experience includes advising on greenfield and brownfield project and portfolio acquisitions, equity investments and joint ventures, and debt and tax equity financings with respect to onshore and offshore wind, transmission, solar and storage assets, as well as renewable natural gas, carbon capture and sequestration, electric vehicle charging, and powering data centers. Former co-general counsel of a North American energy and infrastructure private equity fund, she also advises on general corporate and governance matters, including post-acquisition greening strategies for conventional gas assets and other strategic portfolio optimization.

Alexandra Kaplan - Partner

Co-Head of Simpson Thacher’s Banking and Credit Practice, Alexandra Kaplan represents investment and commercial banks, private credit funds and other financial institutions in connection with a wide variety of syndicated and direct lending transactions across multiple industries. Her practice focuses on complex corporate financings, including leveraged and investment grade facilities, acquisition finance, asset-based lending, bridge facilities, restructuring transactions and DIP and exit financings.

Alexandra sits on the Firm’s New Partner Committee and has previously served as Co-Chair of the Finance Committee and on the Personnel and Recruiting Committees. She has served as a Contributing Editor of “Getting the Deal Through” and co-authored the United States chapter of “Getting the Deal Through: Acquisition Finance,” published by Law Business Research.

Jonathan A. Karen - Partner Jonathan Karen is a partner in the Firm's Corporate Department and member of the Firm's Executive Committee, the Firm's highest governing body. Jonathan has led the Firm’s recent efforts in some of the industry’s most successful and market-defining private equity fund formations, including Blackstone’s recent flagship corporate, energy and real estate private equity funds: Blackstone Real Estate Partners X ($30.4 billion, 2023), Blackstone Capital Partners VIII (2019), Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX ($20.5 billion, 2019), Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia II ($7.1 billion, 2018) and Blackstone Energy Partners II ($4.5 billion, 2015). Other recent noteworthy private fund formation transactions led by Jonathan include Silver Lake Partners VI ($20 billion, 2021), Silver Lake Partners V ($15 billion, 2017), Stonepeak Infrastructure Fund III ($7.2 billion, 2018), Centerbridge Capital Partners III ($6 billion, 2014), Rockpoint Growth & Income Fund II ($2.5 billion; 2018) and Silver Lake Alpine Fund ($2.4 billion; 2018) and numerous other separate accounts, funds-of-one and similar custom arrangements across multiple asset classes, including buyout, real estate, infrastructure, secondaries and distressed and mezzanine debt. Jonathan also counsels investment firms on a mix of matters involving private investment funds, including internal economic arrangements for private fund sponsors, regulatory compliance, M&A transactions and strategic investments involving private fund sponsors, joint ventures and spin-outs. Jonathan is ranked both in the U.S. and Global guides by Chambers, which quotes clients describing him as “extremely practical, inventive, efficient, very smart and down-to-earth” (Chambers USA) and “phenomenal” (Chambers Global). Jonathan was recognized as Fund Formation “MVP” by Law360 in 2023 and 2021, named to Private Equity International’s (PEI) Private Funds Management’s “30 Rising Stars Under 40” in 2015 and labeled a “Rising Star” by Law360 in 2013.

Meredith Karp - Partner Meredith Karp represents clients in a wide range of high-stakes complex commercial litigation, including securities, M&A and breach of contract disputes, as well as in connection with government and internal investigations, corporate governance matters and cross-border international arbitrations. Her work involves the representation of corporations, financial institutions, and private equity firms, as well as boards of directors, board committees and executives. Meredith is recognized on Euromoney’s  Benchmark Litigation’s 2023 “40 & Under List,” which honors the top emerging talent in litigation.

Joseph H. Kaufman - Partner Joe Kaufman, a Partner in our Capital Markets Practice, has a rich and varied practice assisting clients on their public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, as well as on corporate governance and other issues. Joe has advised Avantor on its $4.37 billion IPO and HCA on its $4.35 billion IPO—the two largest healthcare IPOs in U.S. history. He has also advised KKR, Academy Sports & Outdoors,  Aramark, Cigna, First Data, National Vision, and Dollar General. Joe has been recognized as a leading capital markets lawyers by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, Law360 and The National Law Journal. In his spare time, Joe chairs the board of Start Small, Think Big, a non-profit organization which helps under-resourced entrepreneurs build businesses in underserved areas. He is also an avid swimmer and annually swims across Long Island Sound to raise money for cancer research, prevention and treatment on behalf of Swim Across America.

Daniel R. Kay - Partner

Dan is a Partner in the Firm’s Banking and Credit Practice. Named a 2021 Law360 “Rising Star” in Banking, Dan regularly advises leading financial institutions and investment funds in connection with a wide variety of financing transactions.

Dan has deep experience across a range of syndicated and direct lending transactions, including acquisition financings, bridge facilities and asset-based financings. He also has extensive knowledge of the leveraged and investment grade markets and broad expertise representing lenders and corporate borrowers in connection with restructuring, liability management and other complex refinancing transactions. Select transactions have included:

Peter E. Kazanoff - Partner

Pete Kazanoff is widely recognized as a leading M&A and securities litigator, including by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation. He has over 25 years of experience representing leading private equity and corporate clients in high-profile transaction-related disputes and regularly represents issuers, individuals, and underwriters in securities litigations in courts throughout the country. He has deep experience defending clients against claims arising out of financial frauds, including the largest Ponzi schemes in history.

Pete is described by Chambers USA as a “superb lawyer” and “a thoughtful strategist,” who is “very skilled in court” and has a “deep knowledge of securities litigation.” He is also recognized by The Legal 500 in the “Hall of Fame” for M&A Litigation: Defense and by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation as a National and New York “Litigation Star” in Securities Litigation. Pete is an editor of the Securities Law Alert, a monthly newsletter published by the Firm.

Karen Hsu Kelley - Partner Head of our Public Company Advisory Practice, Karen Hsu Kelley counsels U.S. and non-U.S. public companies on compliance with federal securities laws and the listing requirements of the major U.S. exchanges.  In her practice, Karen regularly assists public companies on a wide range of matters, including SEC and stock exchange reporting and disclosure requirements, disclosure of board and executive compensation, corporate governance, conflicts of interest, crisis management planning, shareholder proposals, director independence, the impact of proxy advisory firms, and responses to formal and informal SEC inquiries. 

A significant portion of Karen’s practice specifically relates to advising boards of directors and board committees, including regarding board and committee structures, new developments and changing best practices in governance, leadership transitions and board self-assessments.  In addition, Karen routinely advises on ESG-related governance developments, reporting requirements and disclosure trends, as well as on cybersecurity, diversity, equity and inclusion, and climate change and sustainability disclosures. 

During her career spanning over two decades, Karen has advised a wide range of clients, from Fortune 100 and S&P 500 companies to small- and mid-cap companies along with IPO companies, including Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Caterpillar, Cigna, Cooper-Standard Holdings, Hovnanian Enterprises, Laureate Education, LivaNova plc, Radius Recycling, SiriusXM, The Travelers Companies, Inc. and Virtus Investment Partners.  In addition, Karen sits on the Advisory Board for Practical Law with respect to Capital Markets & Governance matters.

Parker B. Kelsey - Partner

Anthony D. King - Partner

Based in our New York office, Anthony King focuses on corporate acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, minority and strategic investments and other M&A and corporate transactions. Anthony has significant M&A experience across various industries, with a particular focus on real estate and real estate-intensive M&A transactions. Anthony also practiced in the Firm’s Hong Kong office from 2013 through 2020 and continues to have an active practice representing private equity clients and their portfolio companies in M&A transactions across the Asia-Pacific region.

Lauren A. King - Partner

Lauren King is the co-head of the Fund Transactions practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. She has extensive experience advising prominent sponsors on cutting-edge transactions designed to provide liquidity to both GPs and investors. She advises on the full range of secondaries transactions, including traditional and synthetic secondaries acquisitions and dispositions, and GP-led restructurings.

Lauren also counsels sponsors on the organization, structuring and operation of secondaries funds, as well as minority stakes deals. She has wide-ranging experience advising on the development and fundraising of vehicles across numerous strategies, and in connection with fund governance matters, upper-tier structuring and succession planning, marketing and limited-partner transfers.

Lauren has represented a diverse group of asset managers and secondary investors, including, among others, Neuberger Berman, Pantheon Ventures, Portfolio Advisors, Blackstone Strategic Partners, HarbourVest, Serena Ventures, Angelo Gordon, Frontier Growth Partners, Evercore, Goldman Sachs, Leonard Green, Tiger Infrastructure Partners, WeWork Capital Advisors, VCFA Group, GE Asset Management (now State Street Global Advisors), LCN Capital Partners, Hamilton Lane, Graham Partners, Coller Capital and FirstMark Ventures.

Steven R. Klar - Partner

Steven Klar regularly advises some of the largest and most well-known private fund sponsors, including Blackstone, Centerbridge, Lexington Partners and Madison International Realty. Certain noteworthy private fund formation transactions include: Blackstone Capital Partners VIII, Blackstone Capital Partners VII ($18 billion), Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia II ($7.1 billion), Centerbridge Capital Partners III ($6 billion) and Lexington Capital Partners X ($22.7 billion). He has also represented various sponsors of private equity funds, including buyout funds, real estate funds, secondary funds and other alternative investment funds on fundraisings, co-investments, managed accounts and structured secondary transactions as well as ongoing advisory matters. Recently, Steven was recognized as a 2020 Law360 “Rising Star” in Fund Formation and named to Private Equity International’s 2020 “Future 40” list.

Alan M. Klein - Partner Alan Klein has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, as well as in shareholder activism and corporate governance matters. Alan’s recent experience includes representing the Board of Directors of Twitter in connection with the sale of Twitter to Elon Musk. He has also assisted Microsoft in its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, ChemChina in its $43 billion acquisition of Syngenta, Tyco in its $20 billion merger with Johnson Controls, Inc., Cisco Systems in its announced $28 billion acquisition of Splunk and The ADT Corporation in its $15 billion sale to Apollo Group Management. In addition to the Activision Blizzard transaction, Alan has represented Microsoft on many other marquee deals: its $28.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, its $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s phone business, its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype and its investment in Barnes & Noble’s Nook business. Other clients have included Best Buy, Chinalco, Royal Ahold, Gas Natural S.A., Portugal Telecom, Gerdau Ameristeel, Bavaria S.A., TE Connectivity and Owens-Illinois. Alan was recognized as one of The American Lawyer’s 2023 “Dealmakers of the Year” for his work advising Twitter’s Board of Directors in the company’s $44 billion acquisition by Elon Musk. Alan was named a 2017 “M&A Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal. In 2012, The American Lawyer named Alan a “Dealmaker of the Year.” During his time in the 1990s in our London office, he worked on the merger of Glaxo and Wellcome, at the time one of the largest M&A deals in history. Past Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Corporate and M&A Law Committee, he has chaired the International Bar Association’s Annual Mergers and Acquisitions Conference in New York City for the past seven years. He is a frequent commentator on M&A issues. Alan served as Co-Head of the Firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice from 2016 to 2021 and is a former member of the Firm’s Executive Committee.

Jeffrey H. Knox - Partner

Jeff Knox, former head of the U.S. DOJ Fraud Section, is Co-Managing Partner of Simpson Thacher’s Washington, D.C. office and Global Co-Head of the Firm’s Government and Internal Investigations Practice. He represents multinational corporations and independent board committees in high-stakes investigations by the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, CFPB, and other federal and state enforcement regulators. He has advised some of the world’s leading financial institutions, energy companies, life sciences companies, and technology firms in navigating criminal and civil investigations relating to the FCPA, securities and accounting fraud, market manipulation, False Claims Act, antitrust, international money laundering, economic sanctions, and environmental crimes. Jeff also represents senior executives, in their individual capacity, who are subjects of enforcement investigations. Jeff has served as a government-appointed independent compliance consultant, and represents companies in government and court-mandated monitorships. Prior to joining the Firm, Jeff served as a federal prosecutor for more than a decade, including as the Chief of the DOJ’s Fraud Section in Washington, D.C., and before then, as the Chief of the National Security Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. 

Chambers USA recognizes Jeff as a leading FCPA lawyer (Band 1). Jeff was named a White Collar MVP by Law360 in 2021, and is consistently recognized by Chambers USA, Chambers Global, The Legal 500 and Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation, where sources note him as “outstanding, a DOJ veteran and one of the top defense lawyers in DC,” “spectacular, hardworking,” “smart, savvy and practical,” and “a master strategist with a unique insight into the way the DOJ works,” who “presents very charismatically and effectively,” and has “a good combination of substantive expertise and practical knowledge” that “really adds value to the client.” He is a respected voice on corporate compliance and enforcement policy, and serves on advisory boards dedicated to these issues at NYU School of Law and the American Law Institute.     

Scott M. Kobak - Partner Recognized as “an exceptional commercial real estate lawyer” by Chambers and named a Real Estate “MVP” by Law360, Scott Kobak concentrates his practice on representing institutional investors in complex commercial real estate acquisitions and developments, joint ventures and financings. Many of his deals involve the most prominent real estate private equity funds. Scott acts as a frequent transaction counsel to the real estate fund business of Carlyle, KKR, Blackstone and Crown Acquisitions. Scott has focused over the past number of years on significant real estate private equity fund joint venture arrangements and financings with prominent developers and operators throughout the country. 

Julia Kohen - Partner

Julia Kohen is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where she is a member of the Firm’s pre-eminent Banking and Credit and Fund Finance Practices. Julia represents financial sponsors in connection with subscription credit facilities and NAV financings for their private equity, real estate, energy, infrastructure, secondaries, credit and other investment funds, as well as management lines and co-investment loan programs. She has extensive experience structuring complicated financing arrangements designed to provide fund-level leverage to facilitate and support investment activities. Julia has been recognized by Law360 as a 2020 “Rising Star” in Banking.

In addition, Julia has co-authored chapters in several editions of Global Legal Insights’ Fund Finance guide, which covers legal trends and developments in the greater fund finance market and provides law firms, financial institutions, funds and investors with comprehensive insight.

Jamin R. Koslowe - Partner

A Partner in in the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice, Jamin Koslowe’s practice focuses on equity-based and other incentive compensation plans, deferred compensation arrangements, executive employment and separation agreements, and employee benefits issues related to mergers and acquisitions, spin-off transactions and debt and equity offerings.

He also frequently advises boards and compensation committees on executive compensation matters, including in connection with senior executive hires and departures. Jamin’s clients on executive compensation matters have included a broad array of private equity sponsors and companies, including Blackstone, Carlyle, EQT, Aramark, Weight Watchers, Hovnanian, Hilton, SiriusXM and ZoomInfo.

Katherine M. Krause - Partner

Katherine Krause is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department. She regularly advises private equity firms and public companies on mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, spin-offs, recapitalizations and other business combination transactions. In the past she has represented private equity clients, including Goldman Sachs Asset Management, GTCR and Hellman & Friedman, as well as strategic clients and portfolio companies on M&A transactions. Over her career, Katherine has advised on significant corporate matters across a wide range of sectors including private equity, infrastructure and venture capital, among others. She was recently named as one of The Deal’s “Top Women in Dealmaking” and was recognized as one of The American Lawyer’s 2023 “Dealmakers of the Year”.  

Matthew H. Leighton - Partner

Matthew Leighton is a Partner in the Firm’s Private Funds practice and regularly advises some of the largest and most well-known private fund sponsors, including Blackstone, Lexington Partners, Morgan Stanley and New Mountain. He represents private equity and hedge fund sponsors focusing on a broad range of asset classes, including buyout, real estate, debt, infrastructure and secondary funds. In addition to advising clients on the formation, structuring and ongoing operation of domestic and offshore funds, Matthew regularly counsels sponsors on governance and other internal sponsor arrangements, “funds-of-one,” separately managed accounts, co-investment vehicles, structured secondary transactions, fund-related aspects of mergers and acquisitions, minority stakes transactions and regulatory compliance.

Marni J. Lerner - Partner

Co-Head of the Firm’s Private Equity Mergers and Acquisitions Practice, Marni Lerner has extensive experience representing a mix of private equity and corporate clients, including family and founder-owned companies, in mergers and acquisitions, public and private divestitures, strategic investments and securities law matters. In her more than 25 years of corporate deal making, Marni has consistently worked on a variety of significant, complex and record-breaking transactions for a wide range of clients. Her representations have included KKR and its portfolio companies on transactions involving Envision, Neighborly, Teaching Strategies, OverDrive Holdings, Envision Healthcare, BMC, Nature's Bounty, Del Monte Foods and Internet Brands. Marni has also advised AEA Investors, Gardner Denver and Global Payments, among others. She was featured as one of The Deal’s “Top Women in Dealmaking” in 2022 and 2021. In 2017, Marni was named among Crain’s New York Business’s inaugural list of “Leading Women Lawyers in NYC.” She was also named “Best in Private Equity” at the Euromoney Legal Media Group Americas Women in Law Awards 2019 and to The Deal’s first ever “Women in M&A: The Powerhouse 20” list in 2019. Marni is regularly recognized by Chambers USA and The Legal 500 United States for her transactional work, with the former adding that Marni is “impressive” and “a strong negotiator who is noted for her ability to get deals done.” Additionally, she has been named an “MVP” in Private Equity by Law360 four times, most recently in 2023.

Lori E. Lesser - Partner

Lori Lesser is a Partner in the Litigation Department and is Head of the Intellectual Property Practice and Co-Chair of the Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice. She advises on all aspects of intellectual property, technology and privacy law, including corporate transactions, litigation, licensing, outsourcing, strategic agreements and counseling. She counsels clients in a variety of fields, including media and entertainment, software and technology, financial information, apparel, retail and consumer products, pharmaceuticals and life sciences, internet, mobile and social media services and nonprofits.

Lori is recognized by Chambers USA in Technology (Nationwide) and in Band 1 for Technology (New York).  Lori was recently named “Privacy & Data Protection Lawyer of the Year” at Euromoney’s Women in Business Law Americas Awards for 2022. She is recognized in The Legal 500 as a “Leading Lawyer” for Technology Transactions and as an advisor “to watch” for Cyber Law, and has been ranked in the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation, “Top 50 Under 45” U.S. IP Lawyers by IP Law and Business, the “Top 45 Under 45” U.S. women lawyers by The American Lawyer and “The 20 Most Influential Women in IP Law” by Law360. She was twice named New York City’s “Information Technology Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in America. Lori also received the 2023 Harvard Law School Association Award, the association’s highest alumni award, for her service to the legal profession, society and Harvard Law School.

Joshua A. Levine - Partner Josh Levine is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Litigation Department and Head of the Firm’s Crisis Management Practice. He represents multinational companies, boards, committees, directors and executives in white collar criminal and regulatory matters, as well as sensitive internal investigations. Prior to joining Simpson Thacher in 2007, Josh served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he was a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, and the Chief of the International Narcotics Trafficking Unit. Josh received the Director’s Award from the Justice Department for Superior Performance and has been recognized by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation as a leading lawyer in his field. For nearly a decade, Josh served as a member of the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the Southern District of New York, where he represented indigent defendants charged with federal criminal offenses. Josh also serves as Co-Chair of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee.

Edgar J. Lewandowski - Partner

Concentrating on securities law and corporate governance, Edgar Lewandowski is a Partner in our Corporate Department. He has wide-ranging experience advising a variety of issuers, private equity sponsors and investment banks. The transactions he has handled include IPOs, spin-offs, and high yield and investment-grade debt offerings. Edgar also advises boards of directors on general corporate and compliance matters. He represents clients in numerous industries, including real estate, hospitality, manufacturing, digital outsourcing, construction materials and human capital and technology services.

Russell S. Light - Partner

Russell S. Light has extensive experience advising on the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments and fund formation matters, debt restructurings and other bankruptcy matters, credit investments, and real estate transactions, and has represented some of the largest and well-known sponsors of private investment funds, such as Advent, Apollo, Blackrock, Carlyle, Centerbridge, EIG, Global Infrastructure Partners, GTCR, Hellman & Friedman, KKR, Oaktree, Silver Lake, Sixth Street and TA Associates. He also has experience advising on public and closely-held entities and tax issues surrounding transactions involving special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”), real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and business development companies (“BDCs”).

Described by clients as “an exceptional and business-minded tax practitioner” and bringing “a creative approach to complex transactions,” Russell has been recognized by Chambers USA and The Legal 500 U.S. as a leading tax lawyer.

Hui Lin - Partner

Based in New York, Hui Lin is a Partner in the Firm’s Capital Markets Practice. She advises private equity sponsors, financial institutions, corporate issuers and leading investment banks in connection with a broad range of transactions, including initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, registered and 144A high yield and investment grade debt offerings and liability management transactions, as well as general corporate and securities law matters. Hui also has significant experience in acquisition financings and regularly provides securities law advice in connection with mergers and acquisitions. Her diverse practice spans a broad range of industries, from media and technology, healthcare, financial services to oil and gas. Hui’s clients include Silver Lake Partners, EQT, Global Infrastructure Partners, The Invus Group, Sixth Street, CAVA, Dell Technologies, First Advantage, BellRing Brands, Zayo Group, Global Blue and JPMorgan Chase & Co. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Hui has been named as a Law360 “Rising Star” in Capital Markets and recognized as a “Notable Practitioner” in Capital Markets by IFLR1000.

Jonathan Lindabury - Partner

Jon Lindabury is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department and the Head of the Firm’s Derivatives Practice. He advises private equity funds, investment banks, corporations, family offices and foundations on the structuring, negotiation and execution of derivative and other structured transactions, and provides regulatory analysis and advice on related matters. Some of Jon’s clients on recent transactions have included Blackstone, KKR, Silver Lake, BlackRock, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Citibank.

Keegan T. Lopez - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department, Keegan Lopez regularly advises some of the world’s most prominent private equity sponsors, as well as public and private companies, on mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, dispositions, carve-outs, strategic investments, joint ventures and other corporate transactions across a wide range of industries. Keegan’s clients have included Ingersoll Rand, Blackstone, Stonepeak, Thompson Street Capital Partners, KKR, Sony Music Entertainment and Laborie Medical Technologies, among many others.

Caitlin A. Lucey - Partner Caitlin Lucey represents private equity investors and their portfolio companies as well as public companies across all aspects of executive compensation and other employee benefit matters related to a broad range of deals, including mergers and acquisitions and a variety of capital markets and securities transactions. Caitlin has extensive experience advising on executive retention and motivation as well as on equity-based incentives, cash-based incentives, deferred compensation, retirement plans and employment, retention and severance agreements.

Justin M. Lungstrum - Partner

Justin Lungstrum is a Co-Head of the Special Situations group and a Partner in the Firm’s Banking and Credit Practice. He regularly represents lenders and arrangers in syndicated loan financings and direct lending transactions, with an emphasis on acquisition finance. He has deep, versatile experience with financial institutions, credit funds, investment banks, direct lenders, financial sponsors and corporate borrowers in connection with leveraged and investment grade, cash-flow and asset-based senior credit facilities, mezzanine financings, subordinated bridge loans and letter-of-credit facilities.

Justin has extensive experience in representations for restructuring, liability management and other complex refinancing transactions. He also represents corporate borrowers and works with asset managers in connection with fund-level debt incurrence and related financing structures. His clients have included many of Wall Street’s leading banks and asset management firms, as well as major companies, including Angelo Gordon, BlackRock, Cooper-Standard Automotive, CWT, JPMorgan and KKR. IFLR1000 cited him as “an extremely good lawyer, energetic and thorough.”

Leah Malone - Partner

As leader of the Firm’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Practice, Leah Malone advises boards, management teams and investors on ESG and sustainability matters from conception through strategic implementation, oversight and reporting. Her work includes issues related to shareholder engagement, shareholder activism, board effectiveness, board composition and DE&I and other employee initiatives, as well as reporting and disclosure, green initiatives and risk and crisis management, among other areas.

Linton Mann III - Partner

Linton Mann III is a Partner in the Firm’s Litigation Practice. Linton represents clients in complex litigation and investigation matters, including securities, commercial disputes, and anti-discrimination and DEI-related matters. He is also a member of the Firm’s Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice, including the Artificial Intelligence Working Group. Linton is Co-Chair of the Firm’s Recruiting and United for Justice Committees. Linton is consistently named a “Next Generation Partner” by The Legal 500, where sources say he “stands out from his peers for his securities work.” Recognized among Crain’s “40 Under 40” and 2023 “Notable LGBTQIA+ Leaders,” Linton was also recognized among the “Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40” for 2022 by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, and has been named a “Rising Star” by the New York Law Journal, Law360 and Euromoney. Linton is also recognized by Euromoney’s  Benchmark Litigation as a “Future Star” and was a repeat honoree on  Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under List.” 

Linton is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Uncommon Charter Schools New York City, which oversees twenty-four public charter schools in Brooklyn, New York. He is also Chair of the Board of Directors of Manhattan Legal Services, a program of Legal Services NYC, the largest provider of pro bono civil legal services in the country. In 2023, Linton was one of four recipients of the Pro Bono Service Award from the Legal Services Corporation, and the Chief Judge of New York’s Court of Appeals appointed Linton to the Permanent Commission on Access to Justice, which has a mission to expand access to civil legal services and improve access to justice generally.

Borja Marcos - Partner Borja’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, financings and other cross-border transactional corporate matters across Latin America. He regularly advises clients on matters spanning a variety of sectors including energy and renewables, banking, insurance, retail, hospitality and infrastructure of all kinds. Borja has advised on matters involving a wide range of well-known Latin American entities, including Ambipar, Braskem, Despegar, Gerdau, Grupo Rizek, Grupo Romero, Grupo Sura, Mercantil Colpatria, MasPlay, SAAM, Terpel and Volcan, as well as private equity firms such as Advent, Blue Water Worldwide, KKR, Riverwood and Stonepeak.

Borja has been recognized as a “Next Generation Partner” in M&A by The Legal 500 Latin America (2024).

Charles Mathes - Partner

A Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Public Company Advisory Practice in New York, Charlie focuses on advising public company clients across numerous industries on all aspects of their compliance with U.S. securities laws and the listing requirements of the major U.S. stock exchanges, particularly in connection with and following their initial public offerings. He regularly advises in-house counsel, management, boards of directors and board committees on a wide range of matters, including SEC and stock exchange reporting and disclosure requirements, board and executive compensation, corporate governance, shareholder activism, the impact of proxy advisory services, responses to formal and informal SEC inquiries and other general corporate law matters.

Charlie’s practice also focuses on new developments and changing best practices in governance matters. Charlie routinely advises on ESG-related governance developments, reporting requirements and disclosure trends, as well as on cybersecurity, diversity, equity and inclusion, and climate change and sustainability disclosures.

Johanna Mayer - Partner Johanna Mayer regularly provides counsel to some of the world’s most prominent private equity sponsors, financial institutions and public and private companies on complex, often cross-border, mergers and acquisitions, public and private divestitures, strategic investments, joint ventures, recapitalizations and other corporate transactions across a wide range of industries. Her clients have included KKR, New Mountain, Garda World Security, Ingersoll Rand, Sirius XM and People’s United Financial, among others.

Joseph M. McLaughlin - Partner Joe McLaughlin has represented clients in hundreds of class action, shareholder derivative and other aggregated proceedings in trial and appellate courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Over the past 35 years, he has successfully represented clients in securities and complex commercial litigation and all types of government and internal investigations. Joe is widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading class action practitioners, including being named a “Class Action/Mass Tort Litigation Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer’s national Litigator of the Week, and a recipient of the Burton Award for Legal Achievement for authoring the leading treatise,  McLaughlin on Class Actions: Law and Practice. The American Lawyer has referred to Joe as a “reliable winner” and a “class action star.” Other recent legal commentary stated that Joe’s “tenacity” and defense strategies in a high profile securities class action “changed the course of the case,” resulting in a “landmark ruling . . . worth recounting because future securities defendants will surely try to replicate arguments that worked so well for Simpson Thacher and its client.” Joe is consistently recognized as a leader in his field by Benchmark Litigation and The Legal 500 U.S., where commentators have called him a “key figure” and “name[] to note in securities litigation.” He is Co-Chair of the Firm’s Client Committee and serves on the Board of Mobilization for Justice, which facilitates equal access to justice for indigent New Yorkers.

Jeannine McSweeney - Partner

Jeannine McSweeney advises clients on executive compensation and employee benefit arrangements, including equity-based incentives, cash-based incentives, deferred compensation, retirement plans and employment, retention and severance agreements, with particular emphasis on issues arising in mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings and joint ventures. Jeannine works closely with the Firm’s corporate clients on compensation and benefits matters related to mergers and acquisitions and a variety of capital markets and securities transactions. She has experience representing clients across a wide range of industries including energy, industrials and manufacturing, financial services, real estate, technology and healthcare. Jeannine is ranked as a leading lawyer for Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (New York) by Chambers USA, citing clients who say “she is an excellent negotiator, who is thoughtful and practical.” Sources also rave that “she can make highly complex concepts easily understandable for the lay person.” She has also been recognized by The Legal 500 United States as a “Next Generation Partner” for Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation. 

Nancy L. Mehlman - Partner Co-Head of the Firm’s Tax Practice, Nancy Mehlman handles mergers and acquisitions (including tax-free spin-offs), real estate transactions (including those relating to REITs), partnerships, joint ventures, and related financing transactions in the credit and capital markets. She advises several of the Firm’s private equity clients, including Blackstone, KKR, Carlyle and Morgan Stanley on tax matters related both to fund formation—particularly in the area of real estate opportunity funds and private equity funds—and negotiating and structuring of acquisitions by those funds. She also has advised tax-exempt organizations, including university endowments and private foundations, in their capacity as private equity fund investors. Chambers reports that Nancy is regarded by clients as “a go-to on real estate and REIT questions.”

Sasan S. Mehrara - Partner

Head of the Firm’s Real Estate Practice and a member of the Executive Committee, Sas Mehrara focuses chiefly on representing private equity firms, non-traded REITs, real estate opportunity funds and publicly-listed companies in a broad mix of domestic and international real estate transactions. Described by Chambers as an attorney who is “smart, thoughtful, and always delivers for his clients,” Sas has represented the real estate funds of Blackstone, Lindsay Goldberg, Carlyle and Northwood Investors, along with such companies as Apollo Global Management, Glimcher Realty Trust, Hilton Worldwide, La Quinta, Extended Stay America, MeriStar Hospitality, Boca Raton Resorts, IndCor Properties, Equity Office Properties, BioMed Realty, CorePoint Lodging, Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust, Gramercy Property Trust and PS Business Parks in many significant commercial real estate acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures and financings. Sas has worked on more than $100 billion of public-to-private real estate transactions along with numerous private acquisitions and dispositions, including the acquisition by Blackstone of the U.S. logistics business of Global Logistics Properties for $18.7 billion, the largest-ever private real estate transaction globally. Sas also has extensive experience in the acquisition of performing and non-performing loan portfolios and securitized, syndicated, balance sheet and mezzanine financings. Finally, Sas has worked on many real estate restructurings and workouts including the restructuring of the Hilton Worldwide, Equity Office Properties and Boca Raton Resorts financings. Sas was recognized as a Law360 Real Estate MVP in 2015 and 2018.

Juan F. Méndez - Partner Fluent in both English and Spanish, Juan Francisco Méndez has a thriving practice advising on transactions involving Latin America and the Caribbean. He has extensive experience in cross-border transactions across the region, including financings, acquisitions, restructurings, investigations and other complex corporate matters. His clients include global investment banks such as JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America, as well as leading Latin American companies such as Pan American Energy, Despegar.com, YPF, FIBRA Prologis, Grupo Mexico, FIBRA Macquarie, Intercorp, Aenza, Minsur, CCU, SAAM, Nutresa, Grupo Sura and Ecopetrol. Juan Francisco has significant experiences working on both U.S. and Latin American transactions and is capable of seamlessly navigating his clients through diverse cultures and business practices. 

Lee A. Meyerson - Partner Lee Meyerson is Chairman and Founding Partner of the Firm’s Financial Institutions Practice and previous Head of our global M&A Practice. He has counseled the world’s elite financial and investment firms on a broad range of transactions, including some of the largest and most complex mergers in the financial services industry. Lee is described by Chambers as “one of the most accomplished financial services M&A lawyers of his generation.” He is also praised by Chambers for being someone who “works closely with clients to execute major transactions with seasoned efficiency” and clients laud that “he’s a genius and can translate his genius, giving workable solutions.” Lee’s practice also includes counseling clients on regulatory matters, corporate governance and shareholder activism, as well as a broad range of capital markets transactions, including IPOs, debt, equity and hybrid capital securities offerings.

Sven Mickisch - Partner

Managing Partner of Simpson Thacher’s Financial Institutions Practice, Sven Mickisch advises on complex, high profile and often groundbreaking transactions and corporate matters across the financial services space. He has significant experience advising financial institutions in mergers, acquisitions, strategic investments, consortia and financing transactions and has handled numerous restructurings and recapitalizations of financial institutions. He also regularly advises private equity firms transacting in the financial services sector. Sven has been repeatedly recognized by Chambers USA, Chambers FinTech, New York Law Journal, Who’s Who Legal, Law360 and Euromoney.

Alden Millard - Partner

Alden Millard is Chair of Simpson Thacher’s Executive Committee, the governing body of the Firm. He regularly represents leading leveraged buyout sponsors and their portfolio companies in connection with a variety of financings, including acquisition financings, recapitalizations and refinancings. Alden’s primary clients include The Blackstone Group and First Reserve Corporation, and their respective portfolio companies. Alden has also performed significant work for several other leading LBO sponsors, and he regularly represents public and privately held corporations in connection with acquisition financings.

Jacob K. Millikin - Partner

Krista Miniutti - Partner

Named a 2022 “MVP” in Real Estate by Law360, Krista represents private equity firms and portfolio companies in commercial real estate acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures and financings. She has represented clients on a wide range of domestic and international real estate transactions including public-to-private transactions, securitized and mezzanine financings, and portfolio acquisitions. Earlier in her career, Krista served as a Deputy General Counsel and Managing Director at AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp.

Adam J. Moss - Partner

A Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Banking and Credit Department, Adam Moss regularly represents leading private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, financial institutions, investment banks and corporate borrowers in a broad variety of financings, including acquisition financings, recapitalizations and refinancings.

Laurence M. Moss - Partner As a Partner in the Firm's New York office, Laurence Moss focuses his practice on executive compensation and employee benefits law.  Larry counsels companies on the employee benefits aspects of mergers and acquisitions, with an emphasis on leveraged buyout transactions. He regularly advises private equity firms, public companies and senior executives on the design, negotiation and implementation of employment and separation arrangements, equity-based compensation plans and non-qualified retirement programs (including deferred compensation arrangements).  Larry frequently writes on employee benefits issues, including pension and executive compensation matters.  In 2018, Larry was named a “BTI Client Service All-Star,” among a select group of attorneys nominated by corporate counsel for “delivering the absolute best client service.”

Jennifer L. Nadborny - Partner

As a Partner in the Firm’s Public Company Advisory Practice, Jennifer Nadborny advises companies on all aspects of their compliance with the U.S. securities laws and the listing requirements of the major U.S. exchanges. Her practice particularly focuses on compliance and reporting under Section 16 and Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933. Jennifer has advised a wide range of clients, with a focus on transactions by leading private equity firms, including Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, KKR and Silver Lake, with respect to initial public offerings of portfolio companies, merger and PIPE-related activities, and significant secondary sales transactions. She also regularly advises CEOs and other executives on such matters with respect to their long-term estate planning.

Patrick J. Naughton - Partner Patrick Naughton advises on all aspects of mergers and acquisitions transactions, including strategic M&A and private equity investments. He has worked on a number of significant cross-border transactions. Patrick has represented a wide mix of clients, including KKR, Blackstone, EQT, New Mountain, Primavera Capital, First Reserve, Axis Capital, AIG, Genesee & Wyoming, Smithfield Foods, Sealed Air and the special committees and independent directors of several public company boards. Patrick is commended as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA and Chambers Global, which cites his “solid work [and] commercial and reasonable approach" and describes him as a “go-to adviser on cross-border transactions involving China and Hong Kong.” He has also been recognized by The American Lawyer as a “Dealmaker of the Week.” From 2006 to 2010, Patrick was in our Hong Kong office.

Juan M. Naveira - Partner

Juan M. Naveira is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department, focusing on cross-border transactions, primarily involving Latin America. He regularly advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, financings, capital markets transactions, liability management, restructurings and other complex corporate matters. Juan has represented leading companies, private equity sponsors, international investors and investment banks in transactions across a range of industries, including energy and infrastructure, banking and financial services, real estate, agriculture, technology and FinTech, among others.

Juan’s clients on numerous significant transactions have included leading global private equity sponsors and fund managers such as Advent International, The Blackstone Group, Patria Investments and Gramercy Funds Management, leading companies such as Copec S.A., Celulosa Arauco, Banco de Crédito e Inversiones, Colbun and BBVA Mexico, and global investment banks such as J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Juan has been recognized as a “Next Generation Partner” in each of M&A, capital markets and banking by The Legal 500 Latin America (2024).

Juan is also a Hiring Partner of the Firm and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Recruiting Committee.  

Matthew Nemeroff - Partner

As a Partner in the Firm’s Financial Institutions Practice, Matt Nemeroff advises public and private financial institutions and private equity sponsors on M&A, divestitures, investments, joint ventures, consortium transactions, capital raising and corporate governance matters. Matt works with clients across the financial services sector, including in banking, fintech, specialty finance and insurance. He was named a “Rising Star” in Fintech by Law360 in 2022.

Lynn K. Neuner - Partner

Lynn K. Neuner is Global Co-Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department. A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Litigation Counsel of America, Lynn is consistently named one of the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” and “Top 10 Women in Litigation” in the United States by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation. She has the distinction of being Chambers-ranked in four fields: commercial litigation (Band 1), securities litigation, insurance coverage, and advertising disputes. Lynn tries high-stakes cases in federal and state court, leads trial hearings in international and domestic arbitrations, and conducts evidentiary proceedings before the National Advertising Division. She is a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee, served as the Firm’s Co-Administrative Partner, and has been recognized as a “Litigation Trailblazer” by The National Law Journal; a star by the New York Law Journal, which named her a “Distinguished Leader”; and as a “Notable Woman in the Law” by Crain’s New York, which profiles trailblazing female attorneys. Lynn has co-authored a column on the New York Court of Appeals for the New York Law Journal. She is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Practising Law Institute (PLI), a member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society, a past Vice President and Executive Committee Chair of the New York City Bar Association and a former Chair of the Board for the Yale Law School Alumni Fund.

Risë B. Norman - Partner Risë Norman represents a broad range of corporations, investment banks and other financial institutions engaged in capital markets transactions. Her work has involved IPOs, follow-on equity offerings, PIPE offerings, high yield and investment grade debt offerings and restructurings. She has also advised on mergers and acquisitions, as well as leveraged buyouts. Risë’s clients have included Blackstone, KKR, JPMorgan, Citigroup Global Markets, BofA Merrill Lynch, The Hershey Company, ITC Holdings, MDC Partners, Owens & Minor, Peabody Energy, TRW Automotive, Unisys, Walter Energy and Walter Investment Management Corp. Risë was recently honored as “Debt Capital Markets Lawyer of the Year” at the 2021 Americas Women in Business Law Awards. She is the former Chair of the Lawyers Division of UJA-Federation, a member of the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School and a former member of the Securities Regulation Committee of the New York City Bar Association.

Jessica A. O'Connell - Partner

Jessica O’Connell is a Partner in the Private Funds Practice and has advised some of the largest and most well-known private fund sponsors, including Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR and BC Partners. She represents private fund sponsors in connection with the formation and operation of investment vehicles focusing on a broad range of asset classes, including credit, distressed and other debt, real estate, buyout, infrastructure and secondary funds, as well as co-investment funds, separately managed accounts and other similar arrangements. Jessica’s practice also includes advising sponsors in connection with GP “minority stakes” transactions and on internal economic and house/team arrangements, founder succession planning and other strategic initiatives.

John G. O'Connell - Partner

John O’Connell focuses his practice on advising clients on capital markets transactions. He regularly represents investment banks, corporate issuers and private equity sponsors in connection with securities offerings ranging from initial public offerings, follow-on and secondary offerings, high yield debt offerings and investment grade debt offerings. He also advises clients on corporate governance and general corporate and securities law matters.

Michael J. Osnato, Jr. - Partner

A former senior official in the SEC’s Enforcement Division, Mike Osnato represents financial institutions, public companies, investment managers, cryptocurrency market participants and individuals in high-stakes regulatory and government investigations. Drawing on his deep breadth of experience at the SEC, Mike is the Head of Simpson Thacher’s Funds Regulatory and Investigations group, where he specializes in providing private fund managers with practical and insightful regulatory, governance and compliance counseling, including with respect to regulatory developments involving cryptocurrency and other digital assets.

Mike served for nearly a decade at the SEC, where he most recently led the national unit charged with executing the agency’s post-Financial Crisis enforcement agenda in the markets for complex financial products. Based on a wealth of experience supervising and defending highly complex investigations, Mike has earned a reputation for providing clients with clear, results-oriented advice and persuading governmental agencies to drop challenging, high-stakes investigations. He is recognized by Chambers USA in Securities: Regulation: Enforcement, where clients and peers praise him as “thoughtful, smart and deeply knowledgeable of the SEC rules and regulations” and “respected by the government and an advocate for his clients,” and highlight his “very nice touch with regulators.” Mike is also recognized by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation as a National and New York “Litigation Star” in white collar and securities and is described by the publication as a “peer favorite.”

Shannon M. O'Sullivan - Partner

Shannon O’Sullivan concentrates on the formation and operation of a diverse platform of private funds, including real estate funds; buyout funds; distressed debt/credit, mezzanine and senior loan funds; energy/infrastructure funds; and hedge funds, among other alternative arrangements. Shannon has represented leading sponsors of private equity funds such as Blackstone, Carlyle, GSO, Macquarie, Morgan Stanley, Oaktree, Pátria and Westbrook Partners. Shannon also serves as host and moderator of The Funds Channel, the Firm’s private funds-focused podcast series. Shannon has been involved in multiple pro bono and volunteer initiatives, including Girls on the Run and Kings County Tennis League.

Jonathan Ozner - Partner A Partner in the Firm’s Capital Markets Practice, Jonathan Ozner represents issuers, private equity sponsors and underwriters in a wide range of securities offerings, including initial public offerings, follow-on and secondary equity offerings, offerings of high yield and investment grade debt securities, acquisition financing transactions and exchange and tender offers. Jonathan also advises clients on ongoing public reporting, compliance and corporate governance matters. He represents clients in a variety of industries, including healthcare, energy, telecommunications, real estate and consumer products.

Jonathan S. Pall - Partner

A member of the Banking and Credit Practice, Jonathan Pall’s practice focuses on secured transactions, with an emphasis on the Uniform Commercial Code. He advises both lenders and borrowers on a wide range of collateral and security documents, including UCC financing statements, security agreements, pledge agreements, intercreditor arrangements, control agreements and legal opinions. His practice also includes performing collateral reviews and participating in training sessions on secured transactions.

Lesley Peng - Partner Lesley Peng has a diverse practice advising clients on capital markets and general corporate matters. She represents both issuers and underwriters in IPOs, high yield and investment-grade debt financings, convertible debt offerings, and preferred stock offerings. Lesley has represented Blackstone in its $4.8 billion IPO and JPMorgan in its $5.8 billion common stock offering to repay its TARP preferred stock. Her practice has also included advising Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley in debt and equity capital markets transactions for a variety of issuers, focusing on the energy and transportation industries.

Mark D. Pflug - Partner

Mark Pflug advises on a wide variety of mergers and acquisitions transactions, including strategic business combinations, leveraged buyouts and other private equity sponsor-led transactions, minority investments in public and private companies, joint ventures, spin-offs and split-offs, divestitures, and other corporate matters. While Mark’s practice has crossed multiple sectors, he has particular and significant experience in the healthcare/life sciences, real estate services, TMT and industrials sectors, as well as cross-border transactions in numerous European and Asian jurisdictions. Mark regularly represents both corporate clients, including CSL, CBRE, Alibaba and others, and private equity sponsors, both large-cap and middle-market, including KKR, CVC, Blackstone, TruArc Partners, LongRange Capital, CapVest and Lexington Partners. Mark also regularly works for many of the portfolio companies of his private equity clients. Mark has been recognized by IFLR1000 as a “Highly Regarded” attorney for his work in M&A and private equity. Mark currently is based in New York, and previously spent eight years resident in the Firm’s London office and practiced as a registered foreign lawyer in the Firm’s Hong Kong office.

Caroline W. Phillips - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Tax Practice, Caroline Phillips advises clients on tax matters in a variety of transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures,  fund formations, REITs and real estate transactions. She frequently advises private equity sponsors, as well as their portfolio companies, on the tax aspects  associated with numerous investments, acquisitions and divestitures. Her clients have included, among others, Blackstone, Centerbridge, Sixth Street Partners and Blackrock.

Joshua Polster - Partner Josh Polster represents clients in complex commercial litigation, including insurance, securities, M&A and breach of contract claims. Josh tries high-stakes cases in court and before arbitral tribunals. He is experienced in handling complex actuarial matters that arise in insurance disputes. He also regularly counsels clients on M&A and real estate disputes and advises family offices on litigation issues.

Josh is recognized by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation as a “Future Star” and is a repeat honoree on its “40 & Under List,” which honors the achievements of the nation’s most accomplished law firm partners under the age of 40. He also maintains an active pro bono practice. He has defeated an emergency motion in a Florida voting action and, along with the ACLU and AIC, secured a preliminary injunction blocking a fast-track deportation rule. 

Andrew B. Purcell - Partner A Partner in the Firm’s Tax Practice, Drew Purcell advises clients on an array of tax matters, including financing, credit, M&A, spin off, private equity transactions and fund formations. Drew’s clients have included Blackstone, Silver Lake, New Mountain and Ingersoll Rand.

Ravi Purushotham - Partner

Ravi Purushotham is a Partner in the Firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice. Ravi focuses on public and private mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, investments, joint ventures and other corporate transactions for a broad range of public and private companies, banks and private equity firms. He also regularly advises public companies and boards of directors on governance, shareholder activism and special committee matters. Ravi was named “Financial Services Dealmaker of the Year” at The Deal Awards in 2022 and was recognized as an “MVP” in Banking by Law360 in 2023.

Erik Quarfordt - Partner

Recognized in 2020 by Law360 as an “MVP” in Real Estate, Erik Quarfordt focuses his practice primarily on representing private equity firms and portfolio companies in significant commercial real estate acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures and complex financings across a variety of asset classes.

Sandeep Qusba - Partner

Sandy Qusba is the Head of the Firm’s Restructuring Practice. Across a wide range of sectors—including media, real estate, healthcare, energy, automotive, manufacturing and telecommunications—he has represented agent banks, steering committees, official and ad hoc committees, creditors, private equity sponsors, special committees of boards and portfolio companies in some of the largest Chapter 11 proceedings and out-of-court restructurings in recent years, including the syncreon Group, PG&E, Pyxus International, Patriot Coal, Ultra Petroleum, Gawker Media, Danaos, Paragon, LightSquared and Puerto Rico bankruptcy cases. After law school, Sandy served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Stephen Gerling of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of New York. Sandy regularly speaks on topics related to the bankruptcy industry. Some of his past speaking engagements have included presentations at the PLI’s “Nuts and Bolts of Corporate Bankruptcy” program, South Asian Bar Association’s Annual Conference, the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Annual New York City Bankruptcy Conference, a roundtable event hosted by the American College of Bankruptcy and New York University School of Law and the JPMorgan Global High Yield & Leveraged Finance Conference. Recently named an “Outstanding Restructuring Lawyer” by Turnarounds & Workouts, Sandy has also been inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.

Roxane F. Reardon - Partner

Lauded by Chambers as “top-notch in advising on sophisticated corporate finance and securities matters” and a “true expert in capital markets transactions,” Roxane Reardon is Global Co-Head of the Firm’s Capital Markets Practice. Roxane advises corporates and investment banks on highly complex, often multi-tranche, capital markets transactions, with a particular focus on IPOs and other equity and equity-linked offerings. Roxane was recently recognized as “Equity Capital Markets Lawyer of the Year” at the 2022 Euromoney Legal Media Group Women in Business Law Americas Awards and as a “Notable Woman in Law” for 2022 by Crain’s New York Business. She was also named in the IFLR1000 Women Leaders 2021 and 2022 editions, which feature prominent female lawyers with outstanding reputations within their markets for working on complex deals and holding leadership roles within their firms and practices. In addition, Law360 named Roxane an “MVP” in Capital Markets in 2020. She has also been recognized by Euromoney Legal Media Group as a recipient of the Americas Women in Business Law Award for “Best in Capital Markets” in 2016 and 2018. Before joining the Firm, Roxane served as a law clerk for the Hon. Charles Wiggins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Jakob Rendtorff - Partner

Recognized as a 2020 “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer, Jakob Rendtorff’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions. Jakob regularly advises public and private strategic companies and private equity firms on a broad range of transactions and corporate governance matters. He has experience representing clients in complex transactions including mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, carve-outs and spin-offs. Recently named a “Rising Star” in M&A by The Deal, Jakob was recognized as one of the “most promising new M&A partners for 2019.” Jakob was also named a 2019 “Rising Star” in M&A by Law360 and a 2020 Americas “Rising Star” in Corporate/M&A by Euromoney.

Gregory J. Ressa - Partner

Greg Ressa provides advice on all aspects of the real estate industry, with particular emphasis on representation of real estate opportunity funds, real estate mergers and acquisitions, and real estate finance. Ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA and praised as “outstanding” and “a go-to lawyer,” clients have described Greg as “a great resource,” “a remarkable lawyer who has worked on incredible deals” and “one of the best private equity guys in the market.” He has handled deals involving an array of both domestic and international transactions. Greg served as Head of the Firm’s Real Estate Practice from 2004 to 2023 and is a former member of the Firm’s Executive Committee.

Tony Y. Rim - Partner

Tony Rim is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Corporate Practice, where he focuses on corporate finance transactions.  For more than a decade, Tony has regularly advised public and private companies, private equity sponsors and other investors as well as financial institutions in connection with the full spectrum of equity and debt capital raises – including IPOs, follow-on equity offerings, high-yield and leveraged finance transactions, among others.  His clients span across several industries, including technology, media & telecom, financial services, fintech, healthcare, energy and consumer & retail.

In addition, Tony helps clients structure and execute innovative and complex hybrid capital solutions to fit their needs, including multi-lien capital structures and private placements of structured products such as equity-linked securities and convertible preferred stock, for general corporate purposes as well as in special situations involving liability management or restructurings.  Tony also has significant experience in acquisition financings and provides securities law advice in connection with M&A transactions, and he regularly advises corporate clients on securities laws, corporate governance and other general matters.

Brian D. Robbins - Partner

Recognized as a “Hall of Fame” leading lawyer and described as “one of the cornerstones of the practice” by The Legal 500 United States, Brian Robbins focuses on executive compensation, employee benefits and ERISA. Former Head of our Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice and current leader of the Firm’s Title I ERISA practice, he has routinely advised the Firm’s corporate clients on a broad array of compensation and employee benefits matters in connection with corporate mergers, reorganizations, spin-offs and other significant transactions. Brian has also worked closely with corporate boards, compensation committees and high-profile executives with respect to the negotiation of employment and termination agreements. According to Chambers, Brian “is acclaimed for his knowledge and experience in dealing with Title I and Title IV of ERISA, particularly in relation to M&A.” He was recently recognized by Best Lawyers as the “2018 Lawyer of the Year in Employee Benefits in New York.”

Arthur D. Robinson - Partner Lauded by Chambers as “commercial and collaborative” and a “go-to” attorney, Art Robinson advises investment banking and corporate clients on a wide array of corporate finance transactions, particularly in the areas of high yield offerings, initial public offerings and restructurings, as well as on corporate governance issues.  Art has worked extensively in a broad array of industries, including energy, real estate, healthcare, technology, transportation, retail and industrials. Recognized as one of the foremost capital markets lawyers in the market, Art served as Global Head of the Firm’s Capital Markets Practice from 2012 to 2021. He has also served as a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee and as Chairman of the Business Development Committee. 

Matthew B. Rogers - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department, Matt Rogers advises clients on complex mergers and acquisitions transactions. He regularly represents private equity firms as well as public and private companies in a wide range of matters, including strategic mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, dispositions, minority investments and joint ventures. Matt has experience representing clients across a variety of sectors including asset management, financial services, real estate and healthcare. His many prominent clients have included private equity firms such as Blackstone, Oaktree Capital Group, New Mountain Capital and KKR, as well as large corporations such as Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, TD Bank, People’s United, IBERIABANK and Owens & Minor. Matt was recently named to Private Equity International’s “40 Under 40: Future Leaders of Private Equity,” as well as a “Rising Star” in Private Equity by IFLR Americas and an “M&A Rising Star” by The Deal, where he is lauded as a “problem-solver” with broad experience guiding a “series of  megadeals across sectors.”

Rony L. Rothken - Partner

Rony Rothken focuses on the organization, structuring and operation of a broad range of closed-end and open-end private investment funds across multiple asset classes, including buyout, real estate, credit, secondaries, infrastructure, energy, venture and hedge funds.  In addition to traditional fund formation initiatives, Rony advises clients on a wide variety of fund-related matters, including separate accounts and other customized arrangements, joint ventures, co-investments, GP-led secondary transactions, strategic “minority stakes” transactions and internal sponsor arrangements. He also regularly advises clients on compliance with the Investment Advisers Act, the Commodity Exchange Act and other regulatory compliance matters. Rony has experience representing leading domestic and international sponsors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Blackstone, Calera Capital, CVC Credit Partners, Framework Ventures, GCM Grosvenor, Intermediate Capital Group (ICG), Sterling Investors and Stonepeak. Rony has been recognized as a “Next Generation Partner” by The Legal 500, with clients citing him as an “exceptional lawyer” who is “very impressive and has excellent knowledge and robust negotiation skills.”

David E. Rubinsky - Partner

Described as a “phenomenal and practical deals lawyer” with a “wide mastery of trends in the industry” by Chambers, David Rubinsky advises both executives and employers on all aspects of executive compensation and other employee benefit matters in connection with mergers and acquisitions, as well as with individual and group employment and severance negotiations. He has extensive experience representing both private equity investors and management in their portfolio companies in structuring equity compensation and employment arrangements. David also advises public companies and their executives on employment, severance and change-in-control arrangements as well as on ongoing disclosure requirements for stock ownership.

Samuel Rudik - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Real Estate Practice, Sam Rudik regularly represents private equity firms and their portfolio companies on a broad range of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, public-to-private transactions and financings.

William T. Russell, Jr. - Partner

Bill Russell, Head of Simpson Thacher’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Litigation Practice, represents financial institutions, private equity sponsors, corporations and other businesses in a wide variety of commercial disputes. He focuses on bankruptcy and reorganization matters, banking litigation, securities litigation, and transactional disputes, and has tried cases in state and federal courts as well as in arbitral proceedings. A leader within the legal community, Bill is an active member of several bar and legal services organizations. He is Chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Homelessness and the Law, a member of the New York City Bar Association Board of Directors, and a member of the American Law Institute, and has chaired Legal Services NYC’s Board of Directors and served on the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association. He served as a Panel Chair on the Disciplinary Committee for the First Judicial Department and regularly co-authors a column on the New York Court of Appeals for the New York Law Journal.

Patrick J. Ryan - Partner

Patrick Ryan regularly represents leading financial institutions, investment banks and other lenders in connection with the arrangement and syndication of senior credit facilities, including acquisition, bridge and other corporate financings. Previously serving as Head of the Firm’s Global Banking and Credit Practice, he has significant experience in complicated financings in the leveraged finance, investment-grade, private credit and asset-based markets, often working with clients to develop innovative structures or to find solutions to difficult issues. “In high-grade acquisition finance,” reports Chambers, “his knowledge of precedent in the legal market is unbelievable.” He has also advised on special situations and the restructuring of existing credit facilities and other related financings, including DIP and exit financings.

Patrick’s institutional clients include JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, Bank of America, Royal Bank of Canada, HSBC and Barclays. Patrick also represents companies in connection with their financing activities, and his clients have included AOL, American Media, Bard, Cengage Learning, Evercore, Hulu, iHeartMedia, MasterCard, News Corporation, Radioshack, Sky Deutschland, Travelers Companies, 21st Century Fox and Universal Studios. Patrick has also been active in representing clients in sports and entertainment ventures, including Forest City Ratner Companies and other investors in connection with the acquisition and relocation of the Nets NBA franchise to Brooklyn. Recently, Patrick has been representing clients in partnerships between banks and credit funds in connection with the continued growth of the private credit and alternative capital market. He was named a Banking “MVP” by Law360 in 2021.

Whitney W. Salinas - Partner

Whitney Salinas is a Partner in the Firm’s Real Estate Department. She regularly represents private equity firms and portfolio companies on a broad range of commercial real estate financing transactions (including CMBS, balance sheet, mezzanine, agency and construction financings) across a variety of asset classes (including industrial, hospitality, office, data center, studio, life-science, retail, self-storage and manufactured homes). Whitney is ranked as a next generation partner by The Legal 500 and was recently recognized as a Law360 “Rising Star” in Real Estate.

Glenn R. Sarno - Partner Glenn practices in the Corporate Department of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, focusing on private investment funds and other facets of alternative asset management. He has represented private fund sponsors on a global basis, such as Alinda, A&M Capital, Angra, Arlon, Aquiline, Babcock & Brown, BTG Pactual, Bridgepoint, Brown Brothers, Carlyle, CVC, Cypress, KKR, Macquarie, Morgan Stanley, Pretium, Riverstone, SteelRiver and Tiger in many different asset categories, including traditional private equity, real estate, infrastructure, energy, mezzanine and senior debt, RMBS, CMBS, CDOs, food and agriculture, healthcare, education, timber and carbon credits, manager stakes, seed capital, co-investment and secondaries. He has represented various hedge fund sponsors, such as Citigroup Alternative Investments, CVC Credit Partners, Credit Suisse Asset Management, Tiger Management, BTG Pactual, Napier Park, Goshen, Breeden Capital, Pendragon, Endeavour, Skybridge and Blackstone Alternative Asset Management. Glenn also has extensive experience with fund-of-funds, feeder funds, separately managed accounts, employee securities companies, continuation funds, structured secondaries, GP stakes transactions and listed fund products, as well as the structuring of house-team arrangements, succession planning and spin-outs of private equity and hedge fund businesses.

Benjamin P. Schaye - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice, Ben Schaye frequently advises public and private clients on multibillion dollar transactions. He also counsels corporate and private equity clients on spin-off transactions, such as Blackstone’s spin-off of its financial advisory business and PPL Corporation’s spin-off of Talen Energy and concurrent merger of Talen with entities affiliated with Riverstone Holdings. In addition, Ben represents clients in proxy contests, hostile takeover defenses, strategic alliances and joint ventures and counsels clients on issues involving corporate governance, fiduciary duties and shareholder activism. 

Jodi Schneider - Partner

Jodi Schneider advises clients on the tax aspects of a broad range of corporate matters, with a particular emphasis on fund formation matters. She has assisted many of the Firm’s private equity clients – including some of the world’s most sophisticated sponsors – in the structuring of their funds and fundraisings, and has also advised tax-exempt clients – including university endowments and private foundations – in their capacity as private fund investors. She also works on a variety of other corporate transactions, including real estate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and credit and capital markets financing transactions.

John D. Schueller - Partner

John Schueller is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department and the Head of the Securitization Practice. John’s practice encompasses securitizations involving many different types of asset classes, including auto loans and leases, timeshare loans, fleet leases, rental cars, telecommunication assets (such as data centers, cell towers and fiber networks),  single-family residential home rentals, television broadcast revenues and other esoteric assets. He represents both underwriters and issuers, as well as parties in acquisitions and other transactions in which securitizations are involved. John has played a crucial role in many “first-of-its-kind” securitization transactions, including the first securitizations solely involving data center revenue, dark fiber network revenue, fiber-to-the-premises revenue, car sharing revenue, distributed network system revenue and single family rental properties. John is recognized by Chambers USA, with clients noting that he is “absolutely superb on extremely high-value transactions” and “extremely smart and thorough.” In addition, John advises the managers of collateralized loan obligations and borrowers under securitized leveraged loan funding facilities.

William B. Sheehan - Partner

Corporate Partner William Sheehan regularly represents financial institutions and companies in connection with syndicated leveraged finance, direct lending, and other credit transactions. His practice covers a wide range of bank finance—including acquisition-related credit facilities, bridge financings, private credit transactions, general corporate and investment grade transactions, asset-based loans, restructurings and debtor-in-possession financings. He has handled transactions for JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citibank, Royal Bank of Canada, UBS/Credit Suisse and Antares, as well as for other lenders and companies. Lauded by clients as a “super smart lawyer, who’s also thoughtful and commercial,” William is recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” by Legal 500 and is consistently ranked by Chambers USA in Banking & Finance.

David A. Shevlin - Partner Head of Simpson Thacher’s Exempt Organizations Practice, David Shevlin counsels a variety of international and domestic exempt organizations, including all forms of private foundations and public charities. He also advises donors to, and the governing bodies of, exempt organizations. In particular, David advises universities, foundations, hospitals and cultural institutions on the investment of their endowments. David has particular expertise in working with charitable organizations in connection with social enterprise and program-related investments. David also has been involved in assisting governing bodies on internal investigations. Long active in the bar, David is a past Chair of the ABA’s Section of Taxation—Committee on Exempt Organizations. He has also served on the Board of Doctors Without Borders USA.

Gabriel Silva - Partner

Gabriel Silva is a Partner in the Firm’s Energy and Infrastructure Practice. Based in New York, he advises the full spectrum of infrastructure market participants and other corporate and private equity clients on mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and other corporate transactions. He has a particular focus on digital infrastructure transactions, including deals involving data centers, telecom towers and fiber networks and related infrastructure. His work is often cross-border in nature, and includes an active practice in Latin America.

Sunny Singh - Partner

Sunny Singh leads the Firm’s U.S. company-side restructuring team and has deep experience leading all aspects of highly complex domestic and international restructuring matters. Sunny advises debtors, boards of directors, sponsors, investors and other interested parties on some of the world’s most significant chapter 11 cases, pre-packaged bankruptcies and out-of-court restructurings. 

Lauded by clients in Chambers USA for his ability to tackle “the most complicated situations with calm and steady advice,” Sunny routinely advises on matters spanning a wide range of industries, such as energy, technology, retail, infrastructure, telecommunications, real estate and financial services. Sunny has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by several organizations and publications, including The American Bankruptcy Institute, Chambers USA, Law360, International Financial Law Review and others.

Benjamin J. Smith - Partner

Ben Smith is a Partner in the Private Funds Practice at Simpson Thacher, based in the Firm’s New York office. He advises private fund sponsors in connection with the organization, structuring and operation of a broad range of closed-end and open-end private investment funds across multiple asset classes, including traditional and long-dated “core” buyout, infrastructure, real estate, credit, energy and life sciences funds.

In addition to commingled “blind pool” fund formation, Ben advises clients on a wide variety of bespoke fund-related matters, such as separately managed accounts and other customized arrangements for large investors, joint ventures in individual transactions and investment platforms, co-investments (including a depth of experience on standing co-investment arrangements), GP-led secondary transactions and other liquidity transactions, and internal sponsor governance and economic arrangements. He also advises clients on compliance with the Investment Advisers Act and other regulatory compliance matters.

Ben’s experience includes representing Blackstone, KKR, Centerbridge, Morgan Stanley, Tiger Infrastructure, Alinda, BC Partners, Macquarie, Stonepeak, EIG Capital, Onex and J.C. Flowers & Co., among others.

William J. Smolinski - Partner

William Smolinski advises clients on the federal tax implications of a broad range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, acquisition finance and securities offerings, as well as in connection with the structuring and formation of private investment funds. William has advised some of the world’s most prominent private equity sponsors in connection with the tax aspects of transactions across numerous industries, including infrastructure and consumer products and services.

Nathan D. Somogie - Partner

A Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Registered Funds practice, Nathan Somogie represents a broad range of asset management firms in the formation and ongoing operation of their retail investment funds. He has deep experience advising on the design and structuring of some of the most innovative and first-of-their-kind investment products across the asset management industry, including retail products that provide public access to private markets and alternative asset classes. Nathan is a trusted counselor to asset management firms in strategic transactions, co-investments and fund reorganizations, and regularly advises on industry developments.

Rachel S. Sparks Bradley - Partner

Rachel Sparks Bradley represents clients in high-profile securities litigations, including securities fraud and 10b-5 matters, derivative litigations, responding to shareholder demands, and investigations. In addition to securities matters, she regularly defends corporations and financial institutions in complex commercial disputes in federal and state courts.

Brian M. Stadler - Partner Brian Stadler specializes in mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance.  He represents private equity firms and public and private companies in a wide variety of M&A matters, including leveraged buyouts, strategic mergers, minority investments, joint ventures, carve-outs and takeover defense.  While he has counseled clients in a broad range of industries, Brian has extensive experience in M&A transactions involving REITs and other real estate companies.  He has advised Blackstone on more than 30 take private transactions, including eight in a recent 13-month period and the landmark Equity Office Properties and Hilton acquisitions.

During his more than three decades of practice, Brian has been consistently recognized for his work, including a ranking in Band 1 for Private Equity Buyouts by Chambers and being named a “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer, a Private Equity MVP and a Real Estate MVP by Law 360, a Leading Lawyer in REITs by The Legal 500 and Highly Regarded by IFLR 1000 in M&A and Private Equity.  Chambers praises him as “phenomenal” and “top of the class in terms of legal skills, expertise and service.” 

Sophie A. Staples - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Tax Practice, Sophie Staples advises clients on tax matters in a variety of transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, financing transactions and securities offerings. She has advised private equity sponsors, as well as their portfolio companies and other strategic clients, on the tax aspects of numerous investments, acquisitions and divestitures. Her clients have included, among others, Blackstone, Apax Partners, KKR, Centerbridge and BC Partners.

Jaclyn K. Starr - Partner Jaclyn Starr is Partner in the Firm’s Private Funds Practice. She represents domestic and international sponsors in the formation, structuring and ongoing operation of private equity, real estate and infrastructure funds and other private investment vehicles and strategic capital raising. Jaclyn works closely with potential fund investors, including institutional and high net worth investors. She also advises sponsors on certain regulatory matters in connection with the formation and operation of their funds.

Marisa D. Stavenas - Partner Marisa Stavenas is a Co-Head of the Special Situations group and a Partner in the Firm’s Capital Markets Practice. She has a wide ranging practice advising clients in an array of complex domestic and international capital raising, investment and restructuring transactions. She frequently provides counsel on public and private sales of debt securities, reorganizations, tender and exchange offers, IPOs, as well as offerings of common, convertible and preferred securities. Marisa also works with corporate issuers on an ongoing basis as designated underwriters’ counsel in connection with offerings by such issuers. In addition, Marisa regularly advises corporate clients on securities laws, corporate governance and other general matters.

Clients regularly look to Marisa to guide them through their most important and complex transactions. Marisa is ranked by Chambers, which cites her “recent work advising clients on complex novel structures” and quotes clients who have commented that “Marisa is an extraordinary lawyer, mixing clear thinking and focus with a dogged attention to detail” and “Marisa excels in developing an approach that optimizes the balance between the legal and commercial elements.” Marisa was named a Law360 2018 Capital Markets MVP for steering several complex financing transactions on behalf of Hovnanian Enterprises and was selected as a member of the Law360 Editorial Advisory Board for Capital Markets.  

Marisa serves on the Steering Committee of the Kate Stoneman Project, a leadership organization comprising women partners at leading New York-based law firms, and serves as a mentor with W.O.M.E.N. in America to help professional businesswomen advance their careers. She is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of All Souls School, an early childhood day school.

Brian M. Steinhardt - Partner Co-Head of Simpson Thacher’s Banking and Credit Practice, Brian Steinhardt represents leading private equity and infrastructure sponsors and their portfolio companies in connection with a broad range of corporate finance transactions, including bank and bridge loan financings, energy and other infrastructure financings and acquisition financings. He also advises companies on a range of corporate finance transactions, including other leveraged and investment grade syndicated bank financings. His clients have included Hellman & Friedman LLC, EQT Partners, Centerbridge Partners, Apax Partners LLP, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., Electronic Arts Inc., Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., Sirius XM Radio and Weight Watchers International. In 2008, Brian represented the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on its approximately $30 billion financing arrangement related to JPMorgan’s acquisition of Bear Stearns, and in 2009 he represented the U.S. Treasury Department concerning certain financing arrangements for the Legacy Securities Public-Private Investment Program. According to Chambers USA, “he is praised by market sources for his ‘exceptional’ representation of private equity firms and company borrowers in corporate finance transactions.”

Eric M. Swedenburg - Partner

Head of the Firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice and a member of the Executive Committee, Eric Swedenburg represents companies in a wide range of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, spin-offs, joint ventures and other significant corporate transactions. He also regularly counsels clients on shareholder activism, corporate governance and general corporate and securities law matters. In addition to his work with public companies and special committees of boards of directors, Eric has extensive experience in advising non-public corporations, private equity firms and financial advisors in both U.S. domestic and cross-border M&A transactions across a number of industry verticals.

Some of his recent transactions have included representing SiriusXM, Mars, Dover, Genesee & Wyoming, The Mosaic Company, Ingersoll Rand, La Quinta, K2M, McKesson, Vodafone Group and Wyeth.

Eric has published various articles on M&A subjects and frequently speaks on M&A, shareholder activism and corporate matters, including as a regular panel participant in the annual Tulane Corporate Law Institute, which is recognized as one of the premier M&A, corporate and securities law conferences in the country.

Quoting a client, Chambers USA has recognized Eric as “practical and results oriented” with a “no-nonsense approach to the transaction.” He was named a “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer for his role representing Wyeth in its sale to Pfizer. Eric has served as Co-Chair of the Finance Committee. 

Ryerson Symons - Partner With an international range of clients, Ryerson Symons focuses on mergers and acquisitions, as well as other business combination transactions and corporate finance transactions. Ryerson has frequently represented many preeminent private equity firms, including Apax Partners, BC Partners, Blackstone Group, KKR, Permira and Providence Equity Partners. Ryerson spent several years based in our London office, as well as a year with Gide Loyrette Nouel in Paris.

David Teh - Partner

David Teh leads the Alternative Capital and Private Credit team and has deep and versatile experience advising direct lenders, investment banks and corporate borrowers across many sectors on a broad range of direct loans and syndicated credit facilities. His work includes both U.S. and cross-border leveraged acquisition financings, unitranche facilities, ‘recurring revenue’ loans, ‘stretch senior’ loans, first and second lien credit facilities and leveraged and investment grade corporate credit facilities. David also advises on financings for workout and restructuring situations, recapitalizations and other customized loan financings.

Linda Tieh - Partner

Linda Tieh is a Partner in the Firm’s Private Funds Practice. She advises sponsors on the formation, structuring and operation of private equity funds, including buyout funds, real estate funds, opportunistic funds and secondary funds, as well as on co-investment arrangements, “funds-of-one” and separately managed accounts for large investors. Her practice also includes advising sponsors on GP-led structured secondary and other liquidity transactions, economic, governance and other internal sponsor arrangements, as well as regulatory compliance and fund-related aspects of mergers and acquisitions transactions.   

Linda’s experience includes representing some of the largest and most prominent private fund sponsors, including Blackstone, Centerbridge, Hellman & Friedman, The Carlyle Group, MatlinPatterson Global Advisers and Palladium Equity Partners.

Sebastian Tiller - Partner Sebastian Tiller concentrates his practice on merger and acquisition transactions and corporate governance matters. He regularly represents corporations, private equity firms and financial advisers in a range of transactions. Sebastian has represented clients in a number of high profile transactions, many of them cross-border in nature. Sebastian has been recognized by IFLR 1000 as a “Notable Practitioner” in M&A. He is fluent in German and French and was educated in Europe and the U.S.

Lia Toback - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Capital Markets Practice, Lia Toback focuses on complex corporate finance transactions. She has deep experience representing issuers, investment banks and institutional holders on equity-linked offerings, high yield financings, debt restructurings, liability management transactions, initial public offerings and other domestic and international capital raising transactions. Lia has a particular focus on the structuring, negotiation and execution of equity-related transactions, including public and private convertible and exchangeable debt and convertible preferred stock.

Michael H. Torkin - Partner Ranked as a leading restructuring and bankruptcy lawyer, Michael Torkin is a Partner in the Firm’s New York office. Michael’s practice includes representing public and private companies in out-of-court corporate and financial restructurings as well as Chapter 11 proceedings, and he is called upon by boards of directors of financially distressed companies to advise on related fiduciary matters. Michael also regularly represents private equity and hedge fund clients in connection with domestic and international special situation investments and “distress-for-control” transactions as well as corporate clients in connection with distressed M&A assignments. 

Mary B. Touchstone - Partner Mary Touchstone is a Partner and Head of the Fund Finance Practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Mary regularly represents various financial sponsors in connection with debt financings for their private equity, real estate, energy, infrastructure, debt and other investment funds. She has extensive experience in complicated financings designed to provide fund-level leverage to facilitate and support investment activities.

Jessica Tuchinsky - Partner

Jessica Tuchinsky is a Partner in Simpson Thacher's Banking and Credit Practice in the Firm’s New York office. The Banking and Credit Practice is highly regarded on a national and global scale. The Firm recently was named “Banking & Finance Law Firm of the Year” by Chambers USA. Jessica regularly represents leading financial institutions and investment banks with the arrangement and syndication of senior credit facilities, including acquisition, bridge and other corporate financings. She has significant experience in complicated financings in the leveraged finance, direct lending, investment grade, and asset-based markets. Her financial and investment banking clients have included JPMorgan, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, among others.

Alan C. Turner - Partner

Alan Turner is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Litigation Department. He has more than 20 years of experience successfully representing clients in trial and appellate proceedings in a broad range of high stakes complex commercial litigation matters, primarily in the financial services sector. Alan has extensive experience in securities and antitrust class actions in particular, and also represents clients in a variety of other commercial litigation matters, including breach of contract, fraud, insurance and restructuring litigation.

Laura M. Twomey - Partner Head of the Personal Planning Practice at Simpson Thacher, Laura Twomey advises individuals and families on the preservation, transfer and management of wealth during life and thereafter. Laura’s large and varied clientele includes leaders of the financial industry, Fortune 500 CEOs, media personalities, heads of major family-owned companies and prominent political figures. Her practice includes estate planning, estate and trust administration and charitable planning, planning with private equity and hedge fund interests and family-business succession planning. She is experienced, too, in modifying and terminating existing trusts, as well as migrating trusts for tax and non-tax purposes. Laura works with clients to create a plan for transferring personal wealth that meets both the client’s personal goals and tax objectives. She provides highly technical advice in an innately personal way, ensuring seamless coordination with the Firm’s other disciplines, while keeping the personal planning process scrupulously separate from other Firm business. Laura is named a leading lawyer in wealth management by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business and is recognized by Chambers HNW: The World's Leading High Net Worth Advisors, where she received praise for being “unflappable” and “tireless,” and for her “depth of technical knowledge that allows her to present or propose innovative solutions” with clients who describe her as “excellent” and “a top-level lawyer.” A client added, “she’s really smart, she is very caring about what she does. She is tremendously responsive. She’s fantastic.” Laura’s estate-planning advice has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

 

Peter P. Vassilev - Partner As Partner in the Private Funds Practice at Simpson Thacher, Peter Vassilev’s practice focuses on the organization, structuring and operation of private investment funds. Peter represents some of the largest, best-known sponsors of private equity, including Blackstone, KKR and The Carlyle Group, and has represented sponsors on funds focused on a wide array of asset classes, including buyout, real estate, growth, technology, venture and hedge funds. His practice also includes advising on carried interest and similar internal GP arrangements, co-investment vehicles, M&A transactions and strategic acquisitions involving financial sponsors, joint ventures, and other corporate transactions and strategic initiatives involving financial sponsors.

Anthony F. Vernace - Partner

Named a 2023 “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer, Anthony Vernace represents private equity firms and public companies in mergers and acquisitions, investments, joint ventures and other corporate transactions. He also regularly counsels clients on corporate governance, shareholder activism and securities law matters. His clients span a wide range of industries and include leading technology, transportation, healthcare, industrial, financial services and consumer products companies. Anthony consistently receives recognition for his work on numerous marquee M&A transactions for both public companies and private equity firms. Most recently, Anthony was recognized among Variety’s Dealmakers of 2023 for his representation of Microsoft in its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. He was also among the 2023 New York Law Journal’s “Dealmakers of the Year” for his work on numerous headline-making deals. He has also been named a “Next Generation Partner” in both M&A: Large Deals and Private Equity Buyouts by The Legal 500, and as an “MVP” in M&A (2022) and Private Equity (2014) by Law360. Chambers USA lauds Anthony for “his track record in advising on high-end transactional matters on behalf of a range of major sponsors” and reports that he is identified by clients as “a terrific lawyer.” In addition to his legal practice, Anthony regularly serves as a panelist and guest lecturer on corporate and M&A-related topics, including at Harvard, Duke and University of Pennsylvania law schools. Anthony currently serves as a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee, and he was formerly Co-Chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Recruiting Committee.

Mark C. Viera - Partner Mark Viera is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and other significant corporate transactions. Mark regularly represents private equity firms and public and private corporations and their boards of directors on some of their largest and most complex transactional matters, including acquisitions, dispositions, leveraged buyouts, investments, carve-outs, spin-offs, recapitalizations, joint ventures and corporate governance matters. He has experience advising clients on domestic and cross-border transactions across a variety of industries, including financial services, technology, consumer, industrials and real estate.

Justin H. Vilinsky - Partner

Named a “Rising Star” in Real Estate by IFLR Americas, Justin Vilinsky is a Partner in the Firm’s Real Estate Practice. He regularly advises private equity firms and corporations on real estate matters including acquisitions, dispositions, public-to-private transactions, joint ventures and real estate financings (including CMBS, balance sheet, construction, agency and mezzanine financings) across a variety of asset classes (including industrial, hospitality, studio, office, data center and storage).

Craig S. Waldman - Partner

Described by sources in Chambers USA as “one of the rare lawyers who is fantastic with details but also big-picture strategy” and who “thinks outside the box” to give “crisp commercial advice,” Craig Waldman has extensive experience representing clients in high-profile securities litigation, including class and derivative actions, in courts throughout the country. In addition, he frequently represents leading private equity and corporate clients in transaction-related litigation, corporate governance matters, and corporate control litigations. Craig is consistently recognized as a leading securities and M&A litigator by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, Euromoney’s  Benchmark Litigation, and Law360. Craig is a member of the boards of directors of the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and the New York City Bar Foundation. He is also a member of the President’s Council at Tufts University and a member of the 2024 class of David Rockefeller Fellows sponsored by the Partnership for the City of New York.

Kenneth B. Wallach - Partner Co-Head of the Firm’s Global Capital Markets Practice and a member of the Executive Committee, Ken Wallach regularly advises corporate, private equity and investment banking clients on a wide array of corporate finance transactions, particularly in the areas of high yield, initial public offerings and restructurings, as well as on corporate governance issues and other general corporate matters. His clients have included Weight Watchers, Mars, Wrigley, Dell, Blue Buffalo, Symantec, Tesoro, Tesoro Logistics, Acelity, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Garda World Security, Drummond, Cooper-Standard, K2M, Patheon, Silver Lake Partners, Apax Partners, The Invus Group, and JLL Partners. Ken currently serves as a member of the Firm’s Diversity Committee.

George S. Wang - Partner George Wang is a Litigation Partner with decades of experience representing companies, boards of directors and individuals in large, complex commercial cases and other “bet the company” matters. As Co-Head of both the Firm’s International Trade Regulation Practice and Asia Litigation Practice, George focuses on securities litigation, contract disputes and U.S. trade controls. George has defended over 30 securities class actions for many of the nation’s largest companies. He has a well-established record on motions to dismiss, obtaining a complete dismissal in over three quarters of the securities class actions he has defended at the pleading phase. George regularly litigates and advises on complex contractual disputes and indemnification claims arising out of M&A, joint venture and other strategic agreements. He also specializes in international regulatory and compliance matters related to cross-border transactions, including U.S. economic sanctions and export controls involving regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and by The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

Lu Wang - Partner

Lu Wang is a Partner in the Firm’s Private Funds group. Her practice focuses on the formation and operation of investment funds, representing sponsors across a broad range of asset classes and industries. Lu has advised leading private equity sponsors, including Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, The Carlyle Group, Greyhound Capital Partners, Lexington Partners and Onex Partners.

Leanne M. Welds - Partner

A Partner in the Firm’s Real Estate Practice, Leanne Welds has a versatile practice, regularly representing private equity firms, portfolio companies and other clients on a broad range of high-value and complex commercial real estate transactions across a variety of asset classes. Leanne’s transaction experiences range from acquisitions, dispositions and merger transactions involving real estate and real estate-related businesses, to joint ventures, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other equity capital arrangements, to borrower-side real estate financings and financing work-outs with both traditional and non-traditional lenders. These include transactions involving assets in the industrial, select and full-service hospitality, data center, multifamily, student housing and single family home sectors. 

Benjamin Wells - Partner

A Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Registered Funds Practice, Benjamin Wells focuses his practice on advising registered investment vehicles and investment advisers on various transactional and regulatory matters, including structuring and formation, initial and follow-on securities offerings, regulatory relief applications and ongoing governance and compliance. His experience includes listed closed-end funds, interval funds, business development companies and REITs. He also represents underwriters in connection with offerings by registered investment vehicles.  Benjamin was named a Rising Star at the 2017 Mutual Fund Industry Awards as well as in Super Lawyers magazine.

David F. Whelan - Partner

David Whelan is a Partner in the Firm’s Private Funds Practice. He focuses on the formation and operation of private equity funds, including secondary, infrastructure, real estate funds, buyout funds and co-investment funds, as well as other asset classes. His representative clients have included Corsair Capital, Blackstone, Morgan Stanley, New Mountain Capital and Strategic Partners.

Ryan Williams - Partner Ryan Williams is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Practice. Ryan represents clients in connection with mergers and acquisitions transactions, with a focus on M&A relating to alternative asset managers, including minority “GP stake” investments, control sale transactions and joint ventures.

Michael W. Wolitzer - Partner

Named the “Lawyer of the Year” in Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law in New York City for 2018 by Best Lawyers, Michael Wolitzer has wide-ranging experience in private investing and alternative asset management. Michael is Head of the Firm’s Investment Funds Practice. He has represented well-known sponsors of investment funds such as Apax Partners, Blackstone, Centerbridge, Lexington, Patria, Silver Lake Partners and Sixth Street. In addition to private equity funds, he has represented sponsors in other alternative asset classes, including real estate, energy/infrastructure, secondaries and credit/distressed debt. He has represented global financial institutions in the establishment of their employee investment programs; has been involved in a number of acquisitions of, and investments in, private investment firms (including several minority stakes transactions); and has represented buyers, sellers and sponsors regarding the disposition of private fund interests, GP-Led Secondaries and other secondary private equity transactions. Michael serves on the editorial board of the PLC Cross-border Private Equity Handbook, on the Board of the nonprofit Association to Benefit Children, as well as on the Trinity Board at Duke University. He has previously served as Chairman of the Firm’s New Partners Committee and currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee.

Yoonji Woo - Partner

Yoonji Woo is a Partner in the Private Funds group at Simpson Thacher. Yoonji’s practice focuses on private equity fund formation and operations and she has represented sponsors in connection with infrastructure funds, buyout funds and real estate funds, along with co-investment funds, separately managed accounts, funds-of-one and similar custom arrangements. Yoonji also has experience representing venture capital funds, and routinely advised first-time fund managers.

Jonathan K. Youngwood - Partner

Jonathan Youngwood is Global Co-Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department and leads the Civil Securities Litigation Practice. He has more than 25 years of experience representing corporations, boards of directors, and other clients in a wide range of high-profile complex commercial litigations, arbitrations, investigations, and regulatory matters. In addition to securities matters, Jon’s practice focuses on disputes and other matters concerning corporate control, ERISA, and antitrust. He is widely recognized as a leader in his field by Chambers USA (Band 1), The Legal 500 (“Hall of Fame” and “Leading Lawyer”) and Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation (National Securities Star). Jon has been described as one of “the best pure civil securities class action litigators”; a “very effective lawyer with a keen business sense and deep knowledge of the law”; “always prepared and fearless” and “everything that a client would want in a difficult case” in Chambers’ guides.

In 2023, in addition to being ranked by Legal 500 in the “Hall of Fame” for Financial Services Litigation and Securities Litigation: Defense, Jon was also ranked as a “Leading Trial Lawyer” and a “Leading Lawyer” in M&A Litigation: Defense and General Commercial Disputes. Jon was recognized as a 2023 “General Litigation Trailblazer” by The National Law Journal, a series that recognizes lawyers who have moved the needle in the legal profession. In 2021, Jon was awarded the Federal Bar Council’s “Thurgood Marshall Award for Exceptional Pro Bono Service” for his work on high-impact pro bono litigation matters, and in 2020, he was named a Law360 Class Actions “MVP,” and was featured by the New York Law Journal as a “New York Trailblazer” in recognition of his and the Firm’s pro bono work. He was also the recipient of the 2017 “Securities Lawyer of the Year” award by Benchmark Litigation, an award that recognizes the country’s leading litigators, and was also honored as a “Distinguished Leader” in 2017 by the New York Law Journal. Jon is the Co-Chair of one of PLI’s annual programs on securities litigation and an Editor of the Firm’s Securities Law Alert. 

David Zylberberg - Partner

David Zylberberg advises companies in highly complex corporate restructuring matters, with a focus on chapter 11 restructurings. David also has represented companies in chapter 15 restructurings implementing proceedings in foreign jurisdictions, such as schemes of arrangement in the U.K. and Australia.

David also frequently represents creditors and acquirers of distressed companies, including several representations of private equity and hedge fund clients converting debt into controlling equity positions.

Jeanne M. Annarumma - Senior Counsel Jeanne M. Annarumma is Senior Counsel in the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice.  Jeanne works closely with the Firm's numerous private equity, hedge fund and leveraged buyout fund clients in order to assure qualification as “venture capital operating companies” and “real estate operating companies” or meet other available plan asset exceptions in order to avoid ERISA fiduciary and potential prohibited transaction concerns.  Jeanne also has experience advising on the issues that arise when assets of a fund do qualify as “plan assets,” including avoiding prohibited transactions and the heightened duties that apply to fiduciaries of plan assets.

Patrick Marc Baron - Senior Counsel Patrick M. Baron is Senior Counsel in the Firm’s Corporate Department. Patrick’s practice is focused on domestic and international corporate finance transactions. He has represented both investment banks and issuers in high yield financings, debt restructurings, liability management, initial public offerings and other capital raising transactions.

Nadia Bonnet - Senior Luxembourg Counsel

Nadia Bonnet has more than 15 years of experience in guiding U.S. and international sponsors on the structuring and formation of funds and other investment vehicles in Luxembourg and across Europe, as well as in related distribution and other activities. Her practice focuses on the development and regulation of alternative investment funds, vehicles and managers (AIFMs) across a wide range of asset classes, for both regulated and non-regulated investment structures.

Charles F. Carroll - Senior Counsel

Kirsten L. Davis - Senior Counsel Kirsten Davis is Senior Counsel in the Firm’s Corporate Department. Kirsten represents issuers and underwriters in both public and private offerings of equity and debt securities and advises both U.S. and non-U.S. clients on general corporate and securities law matters. Kirsten has been recognized among the “Top 100 Women Lawyers” by Latinvex for her capital markets work in the Latin American region (2019 - 2023).

Steven R. DeLott - Senior Counsel Steven R. DeLott is Senior Insurance Counsel and a member of the Firm’s Corporate Department. His areas of concentration include representations and warranties insurance, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, and complex insurance issues in corporate transactions. Steve is a former Adjunct Assistant Professor at the College of Insurance in New York City where he taught courses in insurance law. Steve is a member of the American Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association.

David Elbaum - Senior Counsel

David Elbaum is Senior Counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. His practice focus is in securities and antitrust litigation and investigations. He represents companies and individuals in a broad range of complex commercial cases, including shareholder and derivative actions and M&A litigation. David also represents clients in government investigations involving the DOJ, the SEC, HUD and other regulatory agencies.

Jennifer L. Franklin - Senior Counsel

Jennifer Franklin is Senior Counsel in the Firm’s Exempt Organizations Practice. She advises a variety of international and domestic exempt organizations, including both private foundations and public charities, and has worked on transactional and tax matters, including the merger or dissolution of non-profit corporations. Jennifer has significant experience in the areas of charitable gift-planning, where she works with donor-advised fund, private operating foundation and supporting organization structures and she also structures endowment fund gifts. Jennifer’s experience also includes art law, where she advises artist foundations on governance and tax issues and individual and foundation donors on charitable gifts of works of art. Jennifer has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by The Legal 500 United States (2022-2023).

Janet A. Gochman - Senior Counsel Janet Gochman is Senior Counsel in the Firm’s Litigation Department. Janet has significant experience working on securities litigation and derivative actions, M&A litigation, internal investigations for boards of directors, government investigations and a variety of complex commercial litigations. Janet also coordinates the response of corporate clients and the Firm to insider trading investigations by the SEC and FINRA.

Michael R. Isby - Senior Counsel

Co-Head of the Firm’s Environmental Practice, Mike Isby focuses on the environmental aspects of mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and lending matters. His practice also includes environmental law compliance counseling. Mike has been recognized for environmental law expertise in publications such as Chambers USA, where he has been praised by clients as being “very smart and diligent” and “a pleasure to work with.” Clients further lauded his ability to “see down the road further than others, approaching issues from a commercial perspective.”

Richard J. Jamgochian - Senior Counsel

Rick Jamgochian advises on all aspects of antitrust and competition law, with a particular focus on the analysis of competitive issues in mergers and acquisitions and counseling clients through the antitrust merger review process. He also counsels clients on criminal cartel investigations, private antitrust litigation, and a variety of antitrust compliance issues. He frequently represents clients in merger reviews before the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, and in connection with cross-border transactions. Rick has extensive experience across a broad range of industries including financial services, technology and software, healthcare and consumer products.

Catherine M. Kidd - Senior Counsel

Beate Krieger - Senior Counsel Beate Krieger concentrates her practice on advising hedge funds, private equity funds, hybrid funds, funds of funds and investment advisers in connection with their structuring, formation and ongoing operational needs, general securities laws matters, and regulatory and compliance issues. 

Hyang-Sook Lee - Senior Counsel

Hyang-Sook (“Soogy”) Lee is Senior Counsel in the Restructuring Practice of the Firm’s Corporate Department. Soogy focuses on syndicated loan financings, particularly in the bankruptcy and restructuring contexts, and has significant experience in the representation of financial institutions in a range of transactions including working capital financings, debtor-in-possession financings, pre-packaged bankruptcy cases and exit financings extended to reorganized debtors. She regularly represents large financial institutions.

Amanda H. McGovern - Senior Counsel

Integral in the launch of the Firm’s Family Office Practice, Senior Counsel Amanda McGovern advises family offices on the formation and ongoing management of family offices and concentrates her practice on complex regulatory matters, including compliance with, or exemption from, registration under the Advisers Act, as well as the structuring of acquisitions of other investment managers.

Amanda is also a member of the Firm’s Private Funds Practice and has over twenty years of fund formation experience representing both general partners and limited partners. She concentrates her practice on the formation and operation of private equity funds, hedge funds, co-investment funds, funds-of-one and other similar custom arrangements.

Krista B. McManus - Senior Counsel

Krista McManus is Senior Counsel in the Firm’s Real Estate Practice. She advises several of the Firm’s corporate clients with respect to real estate matters involving mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and lendings.

Alison G. Silverman - Senior Counsel Alison Silverman is Senior Counsel in the Firm's Personal Planning Practice.  Alison focuses her practice on estate and trust administration and complex estate, tax and succession planning for ultra-affluent individuals and families.  She has developed an extensive client base that includes high-profile principals of private equity and hedge funds, corporate executives, household-name media personalities, and fiduciaries of large estates and trusts.  Multiple generations of wealthy families come to Alison to coordinate their estate plans.

Steven C. Stickler - Senior Counsel

Steven Stickler is Senior Counsel in the Firm’s Real Estate Practice.

Maura L. Whelan - Senior Counsel

Maura Whelan is Senior Counsel in the Firm’s Exempt Organizations Practice. Maura provides clients—consisting of all types of tax-exempt organizations, as well as their governing boards and donors—comprehensive and specialized advice honed from years of practical experience working with exempt organizations. While her work primarily focuses on representing exempt organizations, Maura also has extensive experience representing other types of clients in their philanthropic endeavors and interactions with exempt organizations, including high net worth individuals, family offices, major corporations, and novel philanthropic structures, such as limited liability companies. She advises clients on a wide variety of structural and operational issues, including formation, governance, succession planning and ongoing compliance with applicable tax rules. Maura has significant experience working with grantmaking organizations to structure and implement complex grantmaking programs. She counsels donors in philanthropic planning and structuring. Maura represents charitable and social welfare organizations in connection with social impact and mission- and program-related investments. In addition, she represents endowments, foundations and other institutional investors in connection with alternative investments.

Meredith J. Abrams - Counsel

Meredith Abrams advises asset management clients including registered funds and private funds on a broad range of transactional, regulatory and compliance matters. She has significant experience advising on mergers and acquisitions involving broker-dealers and asset managers and regularly advises broker-dealers on initial registrations and expanding their securities business to include investment banking and capital markets activities. She advises private equity firms, real estate fund managers, other private fund managers and broker-dealers on various complex regulatory matters, including compliance with the Advisers Act, Exchange Act, FINRA Rules and other securities laws.

Brandon Adoni - Counsel

Brandon Adoni is Counsel in Simpson Thacher’s New York office and a member of the Firm’s Public Company Advisory Practice. He primarily advises companies on their compliance with U.S. securities laws, U.S. stock exchange listing requirements and general corporate governance matters.

Linda Barrett - Counsel

Linda Barrett has a broad practice as a member of the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice. She has experience advising a variety of clients, private equity funds and public companies, on executive compensation and employee benefits issues arising in mergers, takeovers, sales, spin-offs, IPOs and other transactions. Linda’s clients include Silver Lake Partners, Alibaba, Alegeus Technologies, KKR, Ellucian, Hellman & Friedman, Dell, JPMorgan and KeyCorp. 

Aleah Borghard - Counsel

Aleah Borghard is Counsel in the Firm’s Government and Internal Investigations Practice. Aleah formerly held several positions at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including Senior Advisor to the Chairman on matters involving the Divisions of Enforcement and Examinations, Counsel to the Co-Directors of Enforcement, and Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the General Counsel. Her practice focuses on advising public and private companies, board committees and executives in a broad range of high-stakes investigations by federal and state regulators.

David H. Caldwell - Counsel

David Caldwell is Counsel in Simpson Thacher’s New York office, where he is a member of the Firm’s Government and Internal Investigations Practice. He advises companies, private equity sponsors, and boards of directors on investigations and a range of regulatory compliance matters, including anti-corruption, economic sanctions and anti-money laundering counseling and transactional due diligence. He has assisted both U.S. and foreign clients with government and internal investigations across Latin America, as well as in Asia and the Middle East. His work includes guiding companies on their internal controls and compliance policies and procedures, including remediation efforts following internal reviews and resolutions with U.S. regulators.

Beatrice Caplan - Counsel

Beatrice Caplan is Counsel in the Firm’s Personal Planning Practice. She advises clients on complex estate and gift planning matters, focusing on planning with private equity and hedge fund interests, pre-IPO planning for founders, family-business succession planning and structuring of family offices. She has extensive experience in creating tailored solutions to meet the preservation and transfer of wealth goals of her clients, which include leaders of the financial and technology industries, Fortune 500 CEOs, multigenerational real estate families and prominent family-owned companies. She also has experience in modifying and decanting existing trusts to better accomplish her clients’ tax and non-tax goals, including to facilitate international tax planning.

Summer Craig - Counsel Summer Craig is Counsel in the Firm’s Litigation Department.  Summer represents clients in a variety of complex commercial litigations, with particular emphasis in the areas of insurance and reinsurance.  Summer is also committed to pro bono work, most recently representing a trafficking victim in civil litigation under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Meredith E. Dodd - Counsel

Meredith E. Dodd advises a wide range of private sponsors on the formation, structuring and management of private investment funds as well as on co-investments and separately managed accounts. She counsels sponsors on vehicles focused on a range of strategies, including buyout, credit, real estate, infrastructure and niche strategies. She also guides clients in connection with related regulatory compliance matters.

Jacqueline Edwards - Counsel

Jacqueline S. Edwards is Counsel in Simpson Thacher’s Registered Funds Practice. Based in the Firm’s New York office, Jacqueline is well-versed in both the Investment Company Act and Investment Advisers Act. She counsels investment companies and their directors on a wide array of investment management and securities law matters, including governance structures and practices, regulatory compliance issues, material service contracts, mergers, acquisitions and other control transactions and disclosure. She represents both open and closed-end funds, as well as interval funds, exchange-traded funds, variable annuity funds and business development companies. Her experience also includes advising clients regarding the regulation and registration of investment advisers, broker-dealers and other financial institutions. 

Bettina C. Elstroth - Counsel

Matthew T. Farrell - Counsel

Matt Farrell advises private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, corporate borrowers, arrangers, and lenders (including direct lenders) on a wide range of banking and credit matters. His work includes acquisition, asset-based, investment grade and general corporate financing transactions.

Moshe A. Fink - Counsel

Moshe A. Fink is Counsel in the Firm’s Restructuring Practice. Based in the New York office, Moshe’s practice focuses on advising a wide variety of constituents in complex in-court chapter 11 restructurings and out-of-court restructuring transactions, including companies, creditors, and sponsors. Moshe also advises clients in connection with corporate governance and litigation risks associated with liability management transactions.

John T. Fitzgerald - Counsel

Timothy Gallagher - Counsel Timothy Gallagher is Counsel in the Firm’s Real Estate Department. He advises several of the Firm’s corporate clients with respect to real estate matters involving mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and lending.

Jennie Getsin - Counsel As a member of the Firm’s Corporate Department, Jennie Getsin advises a wide range of the Firm’s corporate clients on compliance with Blue Sky laws and FINRA regulations. Jennie advises several major investment banking firms in connection with state securities law and FINRA compliance for public and private offerings. In addition, she advises a variety  of private equity firms and hedge funds in connection with state regulatory matters, including Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR. Jennie is also a frequent author of FINRA thought leadership pieces.

James A. Goldfeier - Counsel

James Goldfeier is Counsel in Simpson Thacher’s Litigation Department and is a member of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice Group. Based in the Firm’s New York office, he focuses his practice on advising clients concerning the pre-merger notification requirements in the U.S. under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (“HSR”). Recognized by publications as a “Rising Star,” and “Future Leader,” he provides counsel on merger investigations, analysis and review, and counseling with regard to antitrust compliance issues, including integration planning.

Manny M. Halberstam - Counsel

Manny Halberstam advises private fund sponsors and other asset management firms on investment management regulatory matters, including Investment Advisers Act registration and compliance, investment company “status” issues and compliance with Securities Act private placement rules. His clients include private equity firms, venture capital firms, hedge funds and fund managers that invest in real estate, infrastructure, private credit, secondaries and digital assets. As an Investment Advisers Act specialist, Manny has significant experience analyzing the applicability of U.S. investment adviser registration requirements to U.S. and non-U.S. businesses, guiding clients through the SEC registration process and helping clients navigate the ever-changing and increasingly complex landscape of Advisers Act regulation. He also provides investment management regulatory advice in connection with asset management M&A transactions.

Kirsten A. Harmon - Counsel Kirsten Harmon is Counsel in the Firm’s Corporate Department, where she advises clients in capital markets transactions. She represents companies, investment banks and investors in a broad range of public and private securities offerings, including initial public offerings, venture financing transactions and debt offerings.

Jasmine N. Hay - Counsel Jasmine Hay focuses on complex tax issues arising from a broad range of corporate matters, including private investment funds, real estate transactions, credit and financing and mergers and acquisitions. Jasmine regularly advises prominent private equity sponsors and financial institutions, including KKR, Blackstone and JPMorgan in creating bespoke, tax-efficient solutions.

Carolyn S. Houston - Counsel

Carolyn Houston is Counsel in the Firm’s Private Funds Practice, where she advises clients on the organization, structuring and operation of private investment funds. Carolyn’s practice focuses on a wide array of asset classes, including infrastructure, buyout, secondaries and co-investment, as well as internal arrangements and ESG/impact investing. Carolyn was quoted in a Law360 article titled “What to Know About PE’s Penchant for Impact Investing.”

Kelly Karapetyan - Counsel Counsel in the Firm’s Litigation Practice, Kelly Karapetyan focuses on counseling regarding the pre-merger notification requirements in the U.S. under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (“HSR”) and throughout the world. Kelly provides general counseling with regard to antitrust compliance issues, including integration planning. She is fluent in Russian.

Christine S. Kirkland - Counsel Christine Kirkland is Counsel in the Firm’s Personal Planning Practice. Her practice focuses on advising clients on complex estate planning and estate and trust administration. She has extensive experience in advising individual fiduciaries on complex trust matters and in creating and implementing sophisticated estate planning structures designed to meet the preservation and transfer of wealth goals of her ultra-high net worth clients in a tax efficient manner.

Andrew M. Kofsky - Counsel

Andrew Kofsky is Counsel in the Firm’s Corporate Department where he focuses on counseling employers in all aspects of the employment relationship and litigating employment related disputes.

Drew has conducted numerous high level investigations of sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination. Drew routinely counsels a variety of employers with respect to hirings (both individual and group), employee relations issues, terminations and group layoffs. 

William LeBas - Counsel William (Billy) LeBas advises leading sponsors on fund formation, structuring and operational matters, including regulatory considerations for fundraising. He also has significant experience counseling firms on investment management regulatory matters, with a primary focus on helping firms to comply with the Investment Advisers Act. Prior to joining Simpson Thacher, Billy was an investment management associate at an international law firm and a Vice President, Private Markets Compliance Officer and Counsel at a leading alternative asset manager.

Julie Ledermann - Counsel Counsel Julie Ledermann counsels both corporate clients and underwriters in connection with complex, often cross-border, capital markets offerings. Based in the New York office, Julie advises on a wide array of offerings ranging from U.S. and international initial public offerings, investment grade and high-yield debt offerings, acquisition financing, and many other transactions. Prior to joining the Firm, Julie served as an executive director and assistant general counsel at J.P. Morgan for the capital markets and mergers and acquisitions advisory practices.

Daniel S. Levien - Counsel

Daniel S. Levien focuses his practice on the intersection of international business, financial crime prevention, international regulation, national security, corporate social responsibility and public policy matters. He advises clients on regulatory, compliance and reputational risks related to corporate transactions and handles sensitive governmental inquiries, internal investigations and crisis scenarios. Daniel provides an integrated regulatory and compliance solution to leading private equity firms, financial institutions, corporations and non-profits. He has particular expertise counseling on anti-bribery and corruption, anti-money laundering, cannabis and controlled substances, digital assets, economic sanctions, export control, fraud, KYC and national security risks, as well as on other emerging regulatory and compliance issues. 

Dennis J. Loiacono - Counsel

Dennis Loiacono advises private equity firms, financial institutions and large companies in domestic and international real estate matters involving mergers, acquisitions, sales and debt and equity financings. He also advises clients in connection with real estate-related restructuring matters, securitizations and project finance transactions.

Michael E. Mann - Counsel

Counsel in Simpson Thacher’s Tax Department, Michael Mann focuses his practice on the tax aspects of capital markets and corporate financing transactions. He counsels clients on tax-related matters across a broad range of securities offerings, including debt and equity issuances, tender and exchange offers, as well as structured products and derivatives. He also has experience advising on the tax issues related to structured finance and securitization matters.

May Mansour - Counsel May Mansour is Counsel in the Firm’s Private Funds and ESG and Sustainability Practices. May advises sponsors on the formation, structuring and operation of private investments funds across a range of strategies, including real estate, infrastructure and secondaries, among others. She has extensive experience in open-ended funds. She also represents the Firm’s clients in relation to impact funds and other ESG matters.

Christine M. Marshall - Counsel

Christine M. Marshall is Counsel in the Firm’s Banking and Credit Practice. Christine advises leading financial institutions, sponsors, corporate borrowers and family offices in connection with the arrangement and syndication of senior credit facilities, including acquisition, bridge and other corporate financings.

Christine has represented lenders and other financial institutions in connection with syndicated credit facilities, including JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citibank, Mizuho and others. Christine has also represented sponsors, corporate borrowers and family offices in connection with their financing activities.

Jared Meyer - E-Discovery Counsel

Based in Simpson Thacher’s New York office, Jared Meyer is E-Discovery Counsel in the Firm’s Litigation Department and focuses his practice on all aspects of electronic discovery. Jared manages the discovery process for securities litigation, complex commercial litigation, regulatory inquiries and for merger reviews before the DOJ and FTC.  Jared also coordinates the response of corporate clients and the Firm to insider trading investigations by FINRA and the SEC.  

Jayma M. Meyer - Counsel

Jayma M. Meyer is Counsel, representing pro bono clients in Title IX and gender/racial equity matters in sports.  Jayma is also a Visiting Clinical Professor at Indiana University where she teaches Sports Law. Her areas of concentration in the past were substantive antitrust counseling, federal and state antitrust litigation and government investigations.

Timothy J. Mulvihill - Counsel

Timothy Mulvihill advises on the environmental aspects of transactions across the entire corporate spectrum, ranging from mergers and acquisitions and securities offerings to bank financings and refinancings, as well as environmental law compliance matters and environmental liability management. His work extends across a broad array of industries, ranging from energy and healthcare to technology, real estate, industrials and manufacturing.

Leah Nudelman Tendler - Counsel

Counsel in the Firm’s Global Banking and Credit Practice, Leah Nudelman Tendler has in-depth and versatile experience advising financial sponsors, corporate borrowers, financial institutions and investment banks on a broad range of corporate finance transactions, including acquisition financings, bank and bridge loan financings and refinancings.

Andrew J. O'Brien - Counsel

Andrew O’Brien is Counsel in the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice. Based in the Firm’s New York office, he has extensive experience in the areas of executive compensation, employee benefits and ERISA. Andrew focuses his practice on advising the Firm’s numerous private equity, hedge fund and leveraged buyout fund clients in connection with compensation and employment matters.

Jessica Paletsky - Counsel

Jessica Paletsky is Counsel in the Firm’s Fund Finance Practice. Jessica’s work is focused on crafting tailored financing solutions for investment funds with complex structures across a variety of asset classes, including private equity, real estate, credit, secondaries and infrastructure. She regularly advises financial sponsors on a wide range of fund-level financings, such as subscription facilities, NAV-based facilities and unsecured demand lines, among other bespoke arrangements. Jessica has extensive experience structuring co-investment loan programs, which provide opportunities for employees and other professionals to participate in investments, in addition to lines of credit for general partners and investment advisors, which provide liquidity for working capital and funding of capital commitment obligations. Jessica’s practice provides clients with flexible liquidity solutions that are increasingly essential for investment funds to competitively manage their businesses from fundraising through dissolution. 

Matthew C. Penny - Counsel

Matthew C. Penny is Counsel in the Firm’s Litigation Department, representing clients in high-stakes, complex commercial litigation. He has extensive experience advising clients in connection with matters involving insurance, internal investigations, mergers and acquisitions, securities and breach of contract claims, among others. Matthew has represented clients in numerous state and federal jurisdictions across the United States.  

Sarah E. Phillips - Counsel

Sarah Phillips represents clients in a wide range of high-stakes commercial litigation matters, including complex multijurisdictional cases, with a focus on securities and insurance litigation. She also has extensive experience advising clients in government and internal investigations.

Anthony C. Piccirillo - Counsel

Anthony Piccirillo represents clients in a variety of complex, high-stakes litigations and government investigations. He has significant experience advising financial institutions and other companies in securities litigation and complex contract disputes, including class actions, shareholder derivative suits and M&A litigation. He also represents companies and individuals in government investigations related to securities and accounting fraud, Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Foreign Agents Registration Act. 

Sara A. Ricciardi - Counsel Sara Ricciardi is Counsel in the Firm’s Litigation Department. She represents clients in a variety of complex commercial litigations, with a focus on securities matters, shareholder and derivative actions, and government and internal investigations.

Kevin E. Roe - Counsel

Kevin Roe advises public charities and private foundations on structural and operating issues, including formation, governance, reorganizations, commercial transactions, domestic and international grantmaking and taxation. He also provides advice to not-for-profit institutions and their donors on charitable giving and has particular expertise in corporate philanthropy. 

In addition, Kevin represents universities, foundations, hospitals and cultural institutions in connection with the investment of their endowments, including in the review and negotiation of documentation relating to investments in private funds and similar investment vehicles and in connection with impact investments and mission- and program-related investments.

Stephanie A. Rotter - Counsel

Counsel in the Banking and Credit Practice, Stephanie has extensive experience advising leading financial institutions and investment banks in the arrangement and syndication of senior credit facilities, including acquisition, bridge and other corporate financings.

Nicole Rubin Sanci - Counsel

Nicole serves as Counsel in the Firm's Personal Planning Practice.  With a focused expertise residing in complex trust and estate administration, Nicole guides fiduciaries through the challenges that arise in the management of multigenerational trusts and estates of affluent families.  Nicole assists fiduciaries in the navigation of sensitive family, financial and tax issues frequently occurring in the administration of estates and trusts.  Her guidance enables fiduciaries to achieve resolution through negotiated settlements, mediation and, when necessary, litigation.  Under Nicole’s guidance, fiduciaries are able to effectively implement best practices and mitigate their exposure to liability.  Nicole has substantial experience analyzing complicated and often convoluted estate tax returns and fiduciary accountings, representing both fiduciaries and beneficiaries in such matters. 

Manideepa (Deepa) Sarkar - Counsel

Manideepa (Deepa) Sarkar advises clients on environmental issues arising in the context of complex transactional matters involving a diverse range of clients across industries around the globe. Deepa has wide-ranging experience, having represented clients in mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, capital markets transactions and financing transactions involving a variety of environmental, health and safety issues, including on- and off-site contamination, legacy liabilities and environmental compliance matters. Deepa’s experience includes managing environmental due diligence, drafting and negotiating environmental provisions and indemnities, and advising clients regarding transactional matters including environmental risk allocation, compliance with property transfer statutes and post-acquisition integration.

Chi H. Shum - Counsel

Chi Shum is Counsel in the Firm’s New York office and a member of the Firm’s Corporate Department. Chi’s practice focuses on the formation and operation of private equity funds and compliance matters for investment advisors. He has represented sponsors such as BTG Pactual, SteelRiver, The Carlyle Group, The Sentient Group, Lehman Brothers and Cypress in connection with private equity, real estate and infrastructure funds and employee securities companies.

Neera Rellan Stacy - Counsel Neera Rellan Stacy is Counsel at Simpson Thacher where she is a member of the Firm's Personal Planning Practice. Neera's practice focuses on complex estate planning, estate and trust administration, retirement planning, charitable giving, and complicated planning issues faced by US individuals living abroad. Her varied client base includes scores of private equity fund principals, multiple generations of prominent families, ultra-high-net-worth individuals, and fiduciaries of large estates and trusts. Neera's clients know they can count on her to create and implement sophisticated estate planning structures designed to achieve both the preservation and transmission of wealth in a tax efficient manner as well as meet their personal goals.

Gary Tashjian - Counsel

Gary Tashjian advises clients on a broad array of executive compensation and employee benefits arrangements, particularly with regard to issues arising in the context of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, spin-offs and initial public offerings. He has worked with several of the world’s most prominent sponsors in connection with acquisitions across a wide array of sectors, ranging from technology to infrastructure and healthcare to transportation. Gary also regularly advises public and private companies, including executives and board members, on a range of compensation-related matters, including employment and separation agreements, equity offerings and severance and change in control arrangements.

Joshua Teitler - Counsel

A member of the Firm’s Public Company Advisory Practice, Joshua Teitler advises public companies on regulatory compliance and corporate governance considerations related to their status as public companies. He regularly advises U.S. and non-U.S. public companies on all aspects of their compliance with the U.S. securities laws and the listing requirements of the major exchanges in the United States. He also advises on SEC and stock exchange reporting and disclosure requirements, disclosure of board and executive compensation, corporate governance, conflicts of interest, shareholder proposals, director independence, and other general corporate law matters.

Alisa H. Tschorke - Counsel

Alisa Tschorke is Counsel in the Firm’s Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice, where she concentrates on executive compensation in mergers and acquisitions and IPOs. Alisa also advises public and private companies on a range of compensatory and benefit arrangements.

Daniel J. Venditti - Counsel Daniel Venditti is Counsel in the Firm’s Corporate Department and Labor and Employment Practice. His practice focuses on advising the Firm’s clients on labor and employment issues which arise in connection with mergers and acquisitions, and those relating to their ongoing operations. 

Z. Charles Xu - Counsel

Harlene Katzman - Chief Pro Bono Counsel Harlene Katzman is the Chief Pro Bono Counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. In this role, Harlene oversees the Pro Bono Program and Practice in the Firm’s offices. Prior to joining Simpson Thacher in 2008, Harlene was the Dean of the Center for Public Interest Law at Columbia Law School where she directed the school's mandatory Pro Bono Program as well as its public interest programming, counseling and fellowships programs.