Joyce Y. Xu is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Corporate Department and heads the Firm’s global Derivatives Practice.
Joyce has broad experience in advising financial institutions, corporate clients, hedge funds and private equity funds on the structuring, negotiation and documentation of equity, interest rate, currency and commodity derivatives, as well as prime brokerage platforms. Some of Joyce’s clients on recent transactions include KKR, Blackstone, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Silver Lake, Apax, First Reserve, Best Buy, Microsoft, PPL, Teleflex and CR Bard.
Joyce is a frequent presenter on various derivative products and documentation of derivatives at conferences. Joyce has authored numerous articles and book chapters on derivatives products and regulations. For her book chapter titled “U.S. Corporate and Regulatory Aspects of Equity Derivatives,” in Equity Derivatives: Documenting and Understanding Equity Derivative Products (Globe Law & Business, Globe Business Publishing Ltd. 2009, pp. 357-384), Joyce received the Burton Award for Achievement in Legal Writing. Joyce also co-authored Reflections on Dodd-Frank: A Look Back and a Look Forward, a compendium of articles that review and analyze key rulemaking developments in the year following the Dodd-Frank Act, for which the Firm received the 2012 Burton/ALA Award for Outstanding Authoritative Book by a Partner in a Law Firm. She also co-authored an article entitled “CFTC and SEC Adopt New Rules Further Defining ‘Swap Dealer’ and ‘Security-Based Swap Dealer’” with corporate associates Brian Chernoff and Qian Lisa Wang, which was published in the May 25, 2012 edition of Westlaw Journal Derivatives.
Joyce was recognized in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2011–2018 and Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2010–2018. Chambers calls her “a star in the making” and notes that clients praise her for her ability to “work seamlessly” with client's team to deliver practical results and to “anticipate issues and see things down the line before we do.” She has also been recognized by IFLR 1000 as a leading lawyer in derivatives. Joyce has been featured in The New York Times Magazine as one of the “Top Women Attorneys in Metro New York,” as recognized by Super Lawyers. Joyce was named to Crain’s “40 Under 40” Class of 2011, where she was recognized for her extensive experience and leadership in the derivatives field. In addition, in 2011, she received an Outstanding 50 Asian Americans Business Award by the Asian American Business Development Center.
Joyce joined the Firm in May 2007 and was elected Partner in 2010. She received her B.S. in chemical engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1997 and her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2000, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Prior to joining the Firm, Joyce practiced law as a member of the equity derivatives group at another major New York City law firm. Joyce is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association.