Private Equity

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

Patrick: I help private equity funds and their portfolio companies with all aspects of the investment cycle, including deal structuring, negotiation, financing, and execution. I also advise sponsors as they grow and refine their portfolio companies. The work is fast-paced and collaborative, and it requires expertise in corporate, tax, finance, and securities law to handle complex transaction and regulatory requirements.

Hannah: My practice as a corporate associate includes advising clients on a range of matters, including the process of an acquisition or sale of a business, public offering, or private placement; preparation and maintenance of corporate governance materials; compliance with securities regulations; and filing of company disclosure documents.

What types of clients do you represent?

Patrick: My clients range from bulge bracket investment firms to funds focused on the lower-middle market. I also represent their portfolio companies in M&A activity and all manner of the day-to-day challenges of building and scaling successful businesses.

Hannah: I represent both public and private clients, with a primary focus on private equity, life sciences, and technology companies. My clients span a wide range of industries, sizes, and geographies.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

Patrick: Most often, I work on leveraged buyouts when a fund acquires a company utilizing leverage. This initial acquisition will almost always be followed by add-on acquisitions and, ultimately, an exit transaction. Some transactions involve growth equity investments, taking public companies private, carving out a business from a larger enterprise, or combining several businesses into a larger platform. Each deal is unique, but the goal is always the same: help clients create value, manage risk, and close efficiently.

Hannah: I have worked on platform acquisitions and sales, carve-out sales, equity and asset purchases, mergers, private placements, series investments, public offerings, and debt offerings. I also advise clients on securities regulations and governance matters.

How did you choose this practice area?

Patrick: I was drawn to M&A because of the collaborative and project-based nature of the work. The practice offers constant variety and, most often, tangible results in the form of a successfully closed deal. Like most things in life, serendipity played a role in my introduction to private equity clients specifically, but working on fast-paced, complex transactions with sophisticated investment professional clients across a wide range of industries is the best version of an M&A practice in my view.

Hannah: It can be hard to get a feel for the work of a transactional attorney from just doctrinal classes, so I was grateful to be able to try out various different practice areas through experiential classes, clinics, and internships. I also spoke with attorneys to learn more about the career paths and typical work in different practices.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Patrick: Every day is different, but my work usually involves advising clients on deal terms and strategy, reviewing and negotiating deal documents, and coordinating with teams across disciplines. It is fast-moving work that demands precision, coordination, and good judgment. Some days are focused on detailed negotiations, others are more about general deal management, and others focus on portfolio company matters or putting out a series of small fires.

Hannah: My responsibilities as a corporate associate can be quite fluid. My days might involve multiple calls, coordinating across different teams to understand the issues and proposed solutions, negotiating with opposing counsel, or advising clients on their business options. Other times, these communications take place over email. I also typically spend my time drafting key transaction documents or preparing a company’s disclosure documents.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

Patrick: Taking Corporations, Securities, Corporate Finance, and basic Accounting courses are good for learning core principles and vocabulary. I also recommend taking advantage of as many practical experience opportunities as your law school offers (e.g., negotiations seminars and classes taught by active M&A practitioners). Curiosity about how companies operate and how deals create value will also help you succeed in a transactional practice.

Hannah: I highly recommend taking a Negotiations class and a Contract Drafting class, which both provide practical training for skills that are at the core of being a corporate associate. Beyond that, broad exposure to different topics is helpful for issue-spotting and communicating with colleagues.

What do you like best about your practice area?

Patrick: I enjoy learning about all of the businesses our clients invest in and why and meeting the founders and executives who have built these businesses. Each business and each set of sellers tells a unique story and presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities to think creatively.

Hannah: I love that the work is very collaborative whether it is within the corporate team, with other practice groups and advisors to better advise the client on specialized areas, with the counterparty and its counsel to find mutually agreeable solutions to any problems that arise over the course of the deal, or with both the client’s business and legal teams to gain understanding and to provide advice in line with their priorities and business objectives.

What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?

Patrick: Junior lawyers are key members of deal teams. They conduct due diligence, draft transaction documents, manage closing checklists, and coordinate with clients, other advisers, and broader specialist teams. These tasks build a strong foundation in deal mechanics and negotiation strategy.

Hannah: At MoFo, a junior lawyer can often be as involved in the matter and the substance as they would like. A junior lawyer will be heavily involved in due diligence, identifying which findings will impact the key transaction documents, and in negotiations of the key terms and structure of the deal. Junior lawyers can also gain exposure to all of the various transaction elements by helping track and maintain the transaction checklist and coordinate across various deal team members and advisors.

How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?

Patrick: Private equity continues to grow in scale and sophistication at both ends of the capital spectrum. Technology is reshaping how deals are sourced, executed, and managed, and regulatory requirements are constantly evolving, both domestically and abroad. The best private equity lawyers will pair strong technical skills with the ability to stay ahead of all technological and regulatory developments.

Hannah: As our clients explore the use of AI in their businesses, we are also seeing them open up to or even encourage the use of AI in our legal practices. Lawyers will need to adapt to these expectations while preserving trust and accuracy.

How important is it to understand your client’s business, and how can junior attorneys gain this insight?

Patrick: Understanding your client’s business and the businesses they are investing in is critical. It helps you anticipate issues, offer tailored advice, and build trust. Junior lawyers can develop this insight by researching, asking thoughtful questions, and listening carefully during client meetings. Over time, this knowledge develops into sound judgment and stronger client relationships.

Hannah: Our clients look to us not only to know the law generally but also to apply the law to their specific issues and provide advice in the context of their business. As a junior lawyer, you can subscribe to different legal publications and generally look for news on recent updates in the client’s industries. Public company filings also provide a wealth of peer precedents.

Patrick Huard is the Global Co-chair of the private equity practice at Morrison Foerster. He represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies in a broad range of corporate matters. He advises private equity sponsors on all aspects of their investment activity across a wide variety of industries, including software and technology, business, consumer and retail, and professional and industrial services.

Hannah Yang is a corporate associate, representing public and privately held companies in a variety of corporate and securities law matters. She advises on domestic and cross-border M&A and private equity transactions in various industries. She also represents issuers and underwriters in connection with securities regulation, governance matters, and securities offerings, including initial public offerings, private securities offerings under Rule 144A, and debt and equity offerings.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

Angelo: I represent private equity firms in all their transactions through every phase of their existence, including M&A. I might even help take public a company they’re invested in. These are deep, long-standing relationships, and I advise my clients on all their legal needs.

Daniel: I’ve worked with Angelo since the start of my career, and my focus is also private equity M&A, working with our clients on transactions of every shape and size. The practice is about being there for them, coming up with creative ideas and solutions, and helping them with anything and everything that comes up. I’ve worked closely with a handful of our clients since I was a junior associate, so I’ve been fortunate to be able to foster relationships with them and, like Angelo, become a trusted resource for them.

What types of clients do you represent?

Angelo: I’ve represented many of my clients for decades. KPS Capital Partners is one of my main clients, and I worked on the very first deal they ever did: the purchase of paper company Blue Ridge Paper Products back in 1997, when I was a first-year associate. Other private equity firms I represent include Kohlberg & Co., Oak Hill Capital, and Searchlight Capital Partners. My role also involves mentoring the next generation, so all of my clients are also being serviced by partners like Daniel and others who grew up under me.

Daniel: I represent private equity clients and some of our long-standing institutional clients. In the private equity world, I’ve worked with Angelo on KPS transactions since I was a first-year associate. I’m also now advising Apollo, Roark, Searchlight Capital Partners, and other major clients on transactional matters.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

Angelo: I do the whole panoply of deals for my clients. I’ve become a pretty good generalist at buying and selling companies—the specifics are a function of whatever they are buying or selling. When a client tells me they’re looking at a manufacturing, healthcare, or retail company, I know the issues that are going to come up.

Daniel: I also work on a variety of deals—leveraged buyouts, take-privates, joint ventures, strategic transactions, etc. These could be carve-outs, full business acquisitions, or add-ons to platforms for existing portfolio companies. I work on any type of M&A transaction that our private equity clients and their portfolio companies are interested in exploring, and I help come up with creative ideas and solutions for executing these transactions.

How did you choose this practice area?

Angelo: I have always had an interest in corporate work, but I was introduced to private equity work specifically through three fantastic Paul, Weiss mentors whose practices consisted primarily of private equity in the early days of the industry. They introduced me to their clients and taught me how to be an M&A lawyer. I enjoyed building relationships with these clients, I enjoyed the work, and I found I was pretty good at it.

Daniel: I gravitated toward M&A very early. The transactions were interesting, and I liked the speed and excitement of the work. M&A lawyers think of themselves as the quarterback of a deal, with a hand in every aspect of a transaction. That was a good fit with my personality and how I like to work and manage things. I was drawn to working with Angelo from the start. He has an amazing practice, and I looked at how he handles clients and deals in a way that is always constructive and about getting to the right place, and I said, “I want to work with that guy.”

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Angelo: There is no typical day. You wake up every morning and think you know your agenda, but if you have a successful practice with multiple clients, there are bound to be at least two calls that you had no idea you would be getting when you woke up.

Daniel: As Angelo says, there’s no typical day. Every deal is at a different stage. Every client ask comes in different sizes and shapes. Our clients are doing an incredibly interesting variety of things. Working alongside them to solve problems and work through deal challenges can be unpredictable. Elements of any routine involve preparation, being organized, and staying on top of things, which means checking with your deal teams to make sure things are moving the way they should be.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

Angelo: Even if you’ve been a top law school student, you need to continue to develop your skills as a junior associate. The main skill is enmeshing yourself fully in your deals. I can see whether a junior team member is coasting or going above and beyond. For those in the latter group, I’ll spend extra time with them and help them develop professionally.

Daniel: Law school doesn’t train you to be a corporate lawyer; you learn to be a corporate lawyer by doing. Almost all of it—if not all of it—is being in the trenches and learning from your senior colleagues. As a junior associate, seek out every opportunity to work closely with more-senior attorneys. Alongside this experiential learning, look for firms with interactive training programs, preferably led by associates and partners, like the top-notch Paul, Weiss program.

What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?

Angelo: The work is always changing, even if some core issues remain constant, which makes it both challenging and exciting. I never went in-house because I thought I might get bored working at a company that made one or two products. Here, I get to work on buying everything from steel mills, golf manufacturers, and gyms and with wealth managers. I’ve probably done over 500 deals in 30 years, and each one was different.

Daniel: The most challenging aspect is probably the uncertainty and unpredictability, but they can also be the most rewarding parts! We handle unique deals and challenges that clients put in front of us, and if we haven’t seen or worked on something that’s exactly like that, we have the skill set and experience to get to the right place.

What is unique about your practice area at your firm?

Angelo: Ours is perhaps the most well-balanced private equity practice in the industry. We have a longstanding “anchor” relationship in Apollo, and many of our clients, such as KPS, General Atlantic, Oak Hill, and Roark, have been with us for decades. Not many other firms have two geographically distinct areas offering the full range of capabilities like we do in the United States and United Kingdom. With our recent expansion in London, we’ve been able to add many new private equity clients and cross sell our London clients to our New York partners and vice versa. As a result, today we’re among the top handful of the most active firms globally advising on buyouts, according to deal league tables.

Daniel: The private equity practice here enables you not only to grow and develop as lawyer but also to develop amazing personal relationships with the deal teams at our clients. Particularly with private equity clients, you foster deep relationships with clients by working on repeat deals.

What kinds of experiences can summer associates gain in this practice area at your firm?

Angelo: Summer associates have the same types of assignments as first-year associates. They watch what we do, listen to calls, and are involved in meetings. They get to see up close how deals are done and the respective roles that partners, senior associates, and junior associates play in a transaction.

Daniel: We have a wonderful program that allows summer associates to immerse themselves in every aspect of a deal, even if it’s playing an ancillary role or participating in calls with the client or the other side. Everyone is assigned a partner and associate mentor, but there’s also a really important informal aspect. Getting to know the lawyers who do this work is important. Reaching out to a partner for coffee or lunch can really help give you a sense of who we are as a group and as a firm. As a partner, I reach out to summers and junior associates to mentor them as I was mentored by senior partners like Angelo.

How important is it to understand your client’s business, and how can junior attorneys gain this insight?

Angelo: Our clients expect that we understand their business and what they care about; they look to us for very practical advice about what they should be concerned about. For a junior attorney, it’s critical to strive to build client relationships early. You can’t just wake up and decide to do it as an eighth-year associate; you have to hone the skills from the beginning. So focus on learning as much as you can from as many people as possible, including people at your level within the client, and developing these relationships from the start.

Daniel: I echo Angelo. To be an excellent private equity lawyer, it’s extremely important to understand a client’s goals and how they do things. This comes only with experience and asking questions, so that you’re hitting their timelines and their goals and understanding how they prefer to approach each issue or deal. The work we put into getting to know our clients makes the service we deliver that much better.

Angelo Bonvino is Global Head of the Corporate Department and a partner in the private equity M&A group. A nationally recognized M&A attorney who focuses on private equity investments, Angelo is among the nation’s most sought-after and successful advisors in the private equity industry and is also a highly regarded thought leader in the M&A space. He has written articles on corporate law topics for publications including The M&A Journal, ABA Business Law Today, International Financial Law Review, and The Deal. Angelo earned his B.B.A. from Baruch College of CUNY and J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Daniel Fuschillo is a partner in the firm’s private equity M&A group. Recently elected to Paul, Weiss partnership, Daniel is trusted counsel to the world’s most sophisticated private equity firms and their portfolio companies. He advises on a wide variety of complex business transactions, including leveraged buyouts, dispositions, strategic mergers, take-privates, carve-outs, joint ventures, and minority investments. He earned his B.S. from Binghamton University and his J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

As a private equity lawyer, I help clients structure and negotiate-ate deals, including leveraged buyouts and public and private mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. These range from middle-market transactions to multibillion-dollar megadeals! I help clients navigate the many complexities of a private equity transaction, focusing them on the key business points and helping them achieve a structure and terms that will provide sufficient flexibility to achieve their future goals for each business.

What types of clients do you represent?

The clients I work with are primarily private equity firms that buy, sell, and invest in companies. One of the things I love about working with private equity firms is the breadth of industries in which they deal. The clients I work with are interested in so many different sectors, including healthcare, life sciences, food and beverage, and industrial and consumer retail, which keeps things fresh and interesting. To offer just a sampling, clients I represent include Altamont Capital, Gen-star Capital, TSG Consumer Partners, Bain Tech Ops, and TPG Growth.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

I tend to focus my practice on acquisitions and divestitures. I’m really proud of my recent work helping clients expand and condense their portfolios in line with their strategic goals and priorities. For example, I recently helped Altamont Capital Partners acquire Nutrition 101 and make an investment in Mini Melts USA, Bain Capital Tech Ops invest in both Ren and Blackpoint, and Tekni-Plex (a portfolio company of Genstar Capital) acquire Seisa Medical. Each of these deals was unique, and I had to draw on different knowledge areas to get clients to the finish line.

How did you choose this practice area?

Private equity deals can be fast paced and unpredictable, with lots of unexpected challenges and twists and turns. I knew I wanted a practice that would keep me on my toes and challenge me to be nimble and creative, and it has not disappointed! My work is constantly energizing and interesting. It’s also very rewarding to work on deals that require true collaboration to get them over the finish line.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

A typical day has me working on a wide variety of matters, interacting with clients and colleagues, and managing the unexpected. This includes group calls, in-person meetings, reviewing documents, and addressing client concerns in real time.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

When it comes to deal work, on-the-job training is the best training. Any opportunity to brainstorm, create client-facing solutions, lead calls and conversations, collaborate with colleagues, and practice communication is highly beneficial. Learning by doing will help you get in the rhythm of the deal life cycle and sharpen your ability to exercise good judgment when working with clients.

I would also advise lawyers early in their career to find a mentor and prioritize collaboration. I was fortunate to benefit from exceptional mentorship at Ropes, and by collaborating with attorneys across practice groups at all levels, I was able to ask hard questions and gain valuable insight.

What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?

The greatest challenge is immersing myself in the weeds and details of a deal while simultaneously focusing broadly on the bigger picture. Another challenge is rising to the excellent standards our clients expect. When you practice at a firm like Ropes & Gray, clients expect top-notch service and the best legal advice and outcome from every interaction. It is exhausting—but very rewarding—to always make sure that I am operating at the top of my game.

What misconceptions exist about your practice area?

Many people characterize deal lawyers as emotionless, tough people, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth! Deal lawyers are extremely diverse. We have a wide variety of educational and cultural backgrounds, take varied approaches to our work, and some of us even have colorful personalities!

How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?

For the past 24 months, we have faced a market downturn (following one of the busiest periods in private equity industry’s history). Our clients in the private equity industry are continuing to look for new and creative ways to put capital to work, including via minority investments and rescue financing. As a private equity lawyer, it is important to stay on top of industry trends, explore insights, and bring that in-depth knowledge to the table.

What kinds of experience can summer associates gain in this practice area at your firm?

Summer associates at Ropes get significant exposure to associates and partners across practice areas who are working on a broad range of cutting-edge and high-profile private equity deals. They receive meaningful and substantive work assignments, shadowing opportunities, and hands-on training, which is the best in the business. They take part in mock negotiations and sit in on important client calls. They get involved in project management, legal due diligence, and drafting and documentation of transaction and ancillary documents. We encourage our summers to bring their whole selves to the firm and to absolutely soak up the experience.

Ropes & Gray partner Elizabeth (Liz) Gallucci practices in the firm’s private equity group. Based in San Francisco, Liz represents private equity funds in the structuring and negotiation of leveraged buyouts, public and private mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and other general corporate matters. A practical and thoughtful deal lawyer who represents clients in both control and minority investments across industries, Liz focuses on her clients’ specific goals and brings a deep understanding of market practice in private equity transactions, particularly in the middle market. She has experience across a variety of deal structures and, as needed to support her clients, leverages the capabilities of the full firm to execute and close deals efficiently and seamlessly. Her private equity clients regard her as a sophisticated and trusted counselor. Liz has been listed as one of The Deal ’s Top Rising Stars.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

Rajib: Simpson Thacher’s registered funds practice advises investment managers on forming investment vehicles so that ordinary people can access financial opportunities previously available only to large institutions. Through our team’s work, we’ve helped expand access to private markets and alternative assets, frequently through vehicles and strategies that have never been done before.

Bissie: Unlike that of most practice groups, registered funds’ work runs the gamut. We advise investment funds and their investment advisors on fund formation, fund securities offerings, share repurchases, and fund corporate transactions, including joint ventures and other M&A deals, as well as the day-to-day operations of funds, including compliance and disclosure.

What types of clients do you represent?

Rajib: Our clients fall into two main buckets. They are either private markets firms that historically sold to institutions and now create products for individual investors or large asset managers that historically sold funds consisting of stocks and bonds to individual investors and now want to expand their offerings to include alternative assets.

Bissie: We represent a wide range of clients, including Blackstone, KKR, Carlyle, Apollo, Sixth Street, Golub Capital, StepStone, UBS, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley. As Rajib mentioned, our clients include funds regulated under the Investment Company Act of 1940, such as tender offer funds, interval funds, and business development companies, as well as investment vehicles that are exempt from regulation, such as private funds and operating companies.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

Bissie: The bulk of my work revolves around fund formation but extends to various capital markets and M&A transactions, as well as disclosure and compliance. On any given day, I probably work on four different fund formations and advise upward of 10 clients on assorted legal matters.

Rajib: One of the most interesting aspects of our practice is that we are industry-based as opposed to skills-based. For investment vehicles that are registered with the SEC, our fund formation work is akin to a capital markets practice. For products that are privately offered, our work more closely aligns with the firm’s private funds practice. There’s a very heavy regulatory element, as we often seek exemptions from or are engaged in negotiations with the SEC. The vehicles we advise have ongoing compliance obligations, so there’s a public company advisory practice element. Finally, many sponsors team up to offer products through joint ventures or acquisitions, and we handle this type of work as well. In short, we do all the legal work, but for specific types of clients in a specific industry.

To offer a couple of examples, we helped design and launch KREST, KKR’s fund that offers retail access to private real estate investments, and BCRED, a Blackstone fund that provides retail access to private credit transactions. These and other products have changed the market.

How did you choose this practice area?

Bissie: I chose registered funds because I really enjoy the regulatory aspect. I love puzzles, and clients come to us with complex business ideas that require us to analyze different sets of federal securities laws as well as ERISA and tax. The regulations are constantly changing, so there’s always something new to learn. Junior associates enjoy excellent opportunities to become an expert in a new or developing area, allowing them to add value quickly.

Rajib: I began working in registered funds somewhat fortuitously and found that I really like the industry and the people I work with. Client relationships are deep and continuous. Many of our associates have spoken with the same clients every day for years. Additionally, because Congress places a high priority on protecting individual investors and the SEC is such a strong regulator, you have ongoing communications with government authorities as well, which is another interesting aspect of the practice.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Bissie: Given the many different types of clients we advise and the various projects we handle, every day is different, which I love. Much of my work day is devoted to answering client questions. A lot of what our clients do doesn’t fit squarely within the regulations, and clients look to us to answer difficult questions based on our knowledge of the law, our collective judgment, and our team’s experience. Our deep bench of lawyers are always available to help one another with thorny issues. It’s very much a team sport.

Rajib: My two main roles are, on the one hand, to attract, nurture, and retain talent and, on the other hand, to attract and retain clients. We do a lot of training, mentoring, and recruiting, and I’m very proud that our associate attrition rate is incredibly low. We’ve grown tremendously over the past decade, which has kept people active and excited to be here. For example, our group had only three lawyers in 2014, and we’ve grown to 125 lawyers in 2025. Our client roster has likewise expanded exponentially. I spend a great deal of time talking to clients and potential clients about what they’re working on and what they need help with. I answer questions, and much of what I do now is at a strategic level.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

Bissie: I would advise taking Securities Regulation. Negotiations is also a helpful class. I also took Financial Statement Analysis (sometimes called accounting for lawyers), Corporate and Partnership Tax, and M&A. Any class related to funds, securities, or types of investments funds would be helpful.

Rajib: I encourage young lawyers to get in the habit of caring about the things your clients care about. Read The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times. Seek to understand the economic environment we’re in and the themes at play. This will help you understand why you’re doing what you’re doing and will ultimately inform how you advise clients. One characteristic that I value most in an associate is open-mindedness. Develop a willingness to try new things. For better or worse, there is not a lot of repetitive work in our practice, and you need to become comfortable with this and confident in reaching up, down, and across to others to solve our clients’ issues. Lawyers who have a collaborative mindset and believe that they are better on a team than individually are well-positioned for success.

What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?

Bissie: The most challenging aspect is also what I like most. Our work requires deep and careful analysis of a variety of statutes, rules, and SEC guidance, and there are many gray areas. Developing strong regulatory and analytical skills and understanding how laws fit together will make you a very capable and versatile lawyer.

Rajib: Young lawyers may feel like they’ve been thrown into the deep end, but you’ll always have the support of the entire team. To be honest, sometimes even the most-senior lawyers in our group feel like they’ve similarly been thrown into the deep end because so much of what we do has never been done before. For our juniors, the firm provides a robust and comprehensive curriculum that runs throughout the year. Every other week, we have an “agenda lunch” where associates give presentations on matters they’ve worked on, and the following week, we offer a training session focused on skill and knowledge development. There are lifelines all around.

What is unique about your practice area at your firm?

Rajib: Simpson Thacher stands out from other firms in our singular focus on the cutting-edge juncture of private equity and individual investing. We’re the market leader in this space, and we work on the most exciting investment vehicles. Much of what we do is the first of its kind.

Bissie: We’re “in the lab” with our clients from the start to help develop and build products. Not every type of fund works for every type of strategy, so we guide and shape investment vehicles in a way that is unusual in the market.

What are some typical tasks that a junior associate would perform in this practice area?

Bissie: Junior associates are critical in terms of project management. In connection with a fund launch, juniors are the keepers of the checklist, which gives them visibility into every aspect of the launch. They work closely with documents, preparing initial drafts and overseeing revisions as the project moves forward. The same holds true for the other types of work that we do, such as securities offerings or M&A transactions. Junior associates also review and draft SEC filings and work on various compliance and disclosure obligations. In addition, clients frequently have questions that require legal research, so junior associates handle this as well. The knowledge junior lawyers absorb and the skills they gain are incredibly broad; they learn from the get-go to become jacks-and jills-of-all-trades.

Rajib: I’ve noticed that lawyers often try to turn themselves into hammers and spend their careers searching for nails. To me, it’s more useful to try to become a Swiss Army knife. Develop a wide range of skills and a broad knowledge base. Our multidisciplinary practice affords these unique opportunities.

How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?

Rajib: Ten years ago, private markets were unavailable to individual investors; now there are about a trillion dollars of assets under management. Many say that we’re in the early innings, but I believe we’re still in spring training and the regular season hasn’t even started!

Bissie Bonner is a partner in registered funds. She represents regulated investment companies, including closed-end tender offer and interval funds, business development companies, and exchange-listed closed-end and mutual funds, as well as private funds tailored for individual investors, across alternative asset classes such as private credit, private equity, infrastructure, secondaries, and liquid alternatives. Named a Rising Star at the 2023 With Intelligence Mutual Fund & ETF Awards, Bissie has significant experience in connection with the organization and operation of regulated funds, including disclosure issues, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, policy changes, reorganizations and restructurings, repurchase and tender offers, and secondary offerings. Bissie graduated from Georgetown University and received her J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Rajib Chanda is Global Head of Asset Management and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Hailed as a Trailblazer by The American Lawyer for his legal contributions to the democratization of access to private market investments by ordinary investors, Rajib leads the registered funds practice and is Co-managing Partner of the Washington, DC, office. He regularly represents the world’s leading asset management firms and has helped design, develop, and structure investment products publicly described as “revolutionary” and “category-killing.” A graduate of Brown University, Rajib received his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

I practice in private equity and M&A with a focus on representing private equity sponsors, growth equity investors, and venture capital funds in all stages of the investment life cycle, from minority investments in early-stage growth companies to large-scale platform buyouts and exits. The work blends the technical and the strategic. Every transaction is an exercise in balancing risk allocation, governance rights, and commercial objectives. I spend a significant amount of time helping clients structure investments efficiently, navigate regulatory regimes (from Hart-Scott-Rodino filings to foreign investment controls), and manage complex shareholder dynamics across cap tables. Our group at Willkie is known for its sponsor-side depth and its ability to handle both middle-market and large-cap transactions seamlessly. My own practice tends to sit at the intersection of private equity and technology, where I advise investors deploying capital into software, fintech, and data-driven businesses that are scaling globally.

What types of clients do you represent?

I primarily represent private equity, growth equity, and venture capital firms, including Insight Partners, one of the world’s most active software investors. My clients also include a number of emerging growth funds, family offices, and founder-led companies seeking institutional investment.

Because many of my clients operate globally, I regularly coordinate with our European offices in London, Paris, and Frankfurt, as well as with local counsel in jurisdictions ranging from Israel to Singapore. Increasingly, my practice involves cross-border financings, secondary transactions, and bespoke growth equity structures that straddle the line between venture and buyout investing.

While most of my work is sponsor-side, I also represent management teams and portfolio companies on governance, recapitalizations, and add-on acquisitions, which provides a 360-degree view of the deal ecosystem.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

My deal work spans the full spectrum of private equity and growth investing. Recent matters include leading Insight Partners’ growth investments in enterprise software companies and representing portfolio companies in strategic M&A and recapitalizations.

A representative example of a deal is the sale of Klaus, a customer experience quality management platform, to Zendesk, a transaction that showcased the sophistication of growth-stage M&A involving strategic acquirers. I also handle minority and structured equity deals that require creative governance and liquidity mechanics, areas where experience across both venture and private equity disciplines is invaluable.

Beyond headline transactions, a large portion of my work involves ongoing portfolio support: advising boards on follow-on financings, secondary sales, and complex exit scenarios, often years after the initial investment.

How did you choose this practice area?

I was drawn to private equity because it combines strategic complexity with tangible outcomes. The work is fast-paced and intellectually rigorous, but it’s also deeply relationship-driven. Every deal is a partnership among investors, management, and counsel, and these relationships often span multiple transactions and fund cycles.

Early in my career, I worked across a variety of M&A matters, from public company deals to venture financings. Over time, I gravitated toward sponsor-side work because I enjoyed advising sophisticated repeat players who think long-term about value creation. Private equity requires not only legal acumen but also genuine understanding of how businesses grow, scale, and exit; this strategic element continues to keep me engaged.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

No two days are identical, which is part of what I enjoy most. A typical day might start with an early call with a European deal team, followed by internal meetings with associates on transaction documents, and continue in a late afternoon strategy session with a management team preparing for diligence or a board negotiation.

My time can be roughly divided into three buckets: deal execution, client advisory, and team leadership. On the deal side, I’m constantly reviewing term sheets, stock purchase agreements, and governance provisions, ensuring we strike the right commercial balance. Advising clients often involves structuring guidance or problem-solving mid-deal challenges, and a growing part of my role involves mentoring junior lawyers, helping them develop not only technical proficiency but also business judgment and client intuition.

I also spend time on business development by maintaining and expanding client relationships, often by understanding what’s next for a fund or portfolio company before they do.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

For law students, courses in corporate law, securities regulation, tax, and accounting are foundational. Beyond the classroom, the most valuable skill is learning to think like a deal lawyer, understanding how contractual provisions trans-late into economic and governance outcomes.

For junior associates, I recommend focusing early on executional excellence: mastering drafting, organization, and responsiveness. In addition, cultivate curiosity about the “why” of each provision. Read the financial press, follow private equity deal trends, and pay attention to how deal structures evolve.

Equally important are soft skills: composure under pressure, clear communication, and empathy. Our clients operate at a fast pace, and being the steady, solutions-oriented voice in the room often matters as much as the black-letter law.

What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?

The most challenging aspect is managing simultaneous complexity: high stakes, compressed timelines, and multiple constituencies with different incentives. In private equity, every transaction has layers: the sponsor’s economics, the management team’s incentives, the lenders’ covenants, and the target’s internal dynamics.

It’s easy to get lost in the technicalities, but the best lawyers maintain perspective, distilling the noise into a clear path forward. This requires judgment developed over time, as well as a team-oriented mindset. I often tell junior lawyers that private equity is a contact sport: You have to anticipate, communicate, and collaborate constantly to keep the deal moving.

What do you like best about your practice area?

The people. Private equity attracts entrepreneurial, high-energy clients who are passionate about building companies, not just closing transactions. Being in the room as they make bold strategic decisions—and helping shape the outcomes—is immensely rewarding.

I also love the iterative nature of the work. You build relationships that endure across multiple funds and portfolio companies. Watching a founder take a business from Series B to initial public offering or seeing a platform you helped acquire evolve into a global leader provides a sense of continuity and accomplishment that few practice areas can match.

What is unique about your practice area at your firm?

Willkie’s private equity practice combines the resources of a global firm with the cohesion of a boutique. We operate as one integrated team across New York, London, and Europe with no silos for M&A, fund formation, financing, or regulatory specialists. This allows us to move at the speed our clients require while maintaining precision.

Culturally, the firm prizes hands-on partner engagement. Willkie partners stay deeply involved in deals not only for quality control but also because we enjoy the work. This thinking filters through to our associates, who are given meaningful responsibility early and are encouraged to think commercially. It’s a client- and team-first environment that makes the practice both demanding and collaborative.

How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?

Private equity continues to evolve toward flexibility and specialization. The lines between buyout, growth, and venture are blurring as sponsors raise dedicated growth or continuation funds and deploy capital more creatively. I also see an increasing emphasis on data, technology, and operational excellence; investors want to add value beyond capital.

On the legal side, these changes mean more structured deals, secondary liquidity events, and creative financing arrangements. Lawyers who understand not just the documentation but also the business context will be in high demand.

At its core, though, private equity remains about relationships and judgment: knowing your client’s objectives, anticipating issues, and helping them navigate risk with confidence.

Matthew Haddad is a partner in the corporate and financial services department of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP based in New York. His practice focuses on private equity sponsors, growth equity investors, and venture capital firms in domestic and cross-border transactions, in leveraged buyouts, minority investments, growth financings, portfolio company acquisitions and dispositions, and other matters.

Matthew works with many of the world’s leading technology and software investors, including Insight Partners, for whom he helps oversee the firm’s global relationship. He is deeply involved in the structuring, negotiation, and execution of transactions across multiple fund strategies, often advising on complex governance and liquidity matters.

Known for his commercial instincts and collaborative approach, Matthew has guided dozens of high-growth companies and sponsor-backed platforms through transformative transactions. He is a trusted advisor to both deal teams and portfolio company executives.

Matthew received his J.D. from Cornell Law School and his B.A. from Lafayette College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

Alison: My practice largely consists of private equity and public company M&A transactions. I represent private equity firms and public companies in acquisitions and divestitures, minority investments, carve-out transactions, joint ventures, and other corporate matters.

Max: My practice covers the same scope as Alison’s with private equity M&A transactions (both buy side and sell side) making up a significant portion of my “deal sheet.”

What types of clients do you represent?

Max: I represent private equity firms in acquisitions and divestitures of portfolio companies, portfolio company add-on acquisitions, and recapitalizations. Most of the recent work in private equity M&A has been for AEA and Cranemere.

Alison: The private equity clients I have represented as part of the Fried Frank team in recent years include Permira, RedBird Capital Partners, and several of their respective portfolio companies. The public company clients I have represented include Humana; Becton, Dickinson and Company; Catalent; and special committees of disinterested directors of various others.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

Max: My practice involves working on a variety of private equity M&A transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs, minority investments, restructurings, and continuation fund transactions, while sitting opposite to counterparties, including publicly listed companies, private equity firms, consortiums, and owner and founders.

Alison: Much of my work has evolved into buyout transactions for both private equity and public company clients. For private equity, my work falls into three categories: i) leading M&A deals for their flagship funds, ii) venture style investments for the various growth funds, and iii) general corporate work or add-on acquisitions or dispositions for the portfolio companies owned by various vintages of the private equity firms’ funds.

How did you choose this practice area?

Max: I went to law school with the intention of becoming a corporate attorney, and when I started my career at Fried Frank, corporate attorneys were not assigned to specific practice groups within the corporate department for their first two years. During this time, I found myself drawn to the M&A and private equity practice, finding that the problems presented in the practice demanded a certain level of practical solution-oriented creativity. And while there are aspects of the practice that involve rote processing, the core tasks—diligence, negotiation, documentation, execution—all present challenges that provide opportunities for creativity and innovation to design the best solution for the client.

Alison: I briefly started my legal career as a litigator because that is what law school teaches you. Both summers of law school I worked for the Justice Department and despite working on the most interesting substantive legal work you could find, I was miserable. I needed work that was more dynamic and creative, and that’s transactional work—it’s deal work. I’d like to say I chose it, but I found my way into it when I realized I wasn’t cut out to be a litigator. If it weren’t for our M&A and private equity practice, I wouldn’t be a lawyer.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Max: As a partner, I can’t say there is a typical day given the service-oriented, client-facing nature of the job. The shape of the day is dictated by both the expected demands based on the status of my active deals and the unexpected email from a client asking about an issue or new development. However, some more common tasks include doing a “page flip” of a transaction agreement with opposing counsel, going over an issues list with a client, and consulting with a specialist to determine how to best address a particular issue in a transaction.

Alison: I begin most days with a workout before heading to the office, which helps to clear my head and prepare for the workday. My workday is largely spent in front of my computer answering emails, drafting merger agreements, reviewing ancillary documents, and joining calls with colleagues and clients to strategize about various transactions. It is hardly as indulgent as what is portrayed on the show “Suits,” but it is just as fast-paced and a job that can be fun at times and often very rewarding.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

Max: M&A practitioners act as the project managers on transactions. I’ve found that standout practitioners have superb project management skills. They are organized, efficient, effective communicators, strategic in approaching and prioritizing tasks, proactive, and able to anticipate problems and design pragmatic solutions that push the project forward. Getting management experience—whether through a class, internship or other “work” setting, or extracurricular activities—to hone such skills would be tremendously beneficial for someone looking to enter this practice area.

Alison: Because of where and how I started, I learned everything on the job. So, it can be done. That said, if you know what you want to do in law school, take corporate classes including corporate tax; take Securities Law if you want to do public company work; and take Negotiation if you want to practice critical thinking and speaking before doing it on the job. If you can take finance or accounting classes offered at the business school on campus, even better. The most important quality you can bring to this job when you first start isn’t anything you will have learned in law school—it’s being enthusiastic and willing to work hard.

What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?

Max: Our M&A and private equity team takes the lead on documenting and implementing each transaction. As such, we serve as the conduit between the client and the client’s advisors and between the client and opposing counsel or counterparty. There is an art to identifying issues and presenting advice and potential solutions to a client that considers the client’s business needs, the nature of the transaction, and the relative negotiating power of the relevant parties, and then, at the appropriate time, conveying the client’s proposed resolution to a counterparty, in a manner that achieves the client’s desired outcome. Getting the messaging right is the aspect of the practice that I concentrate on the most and which I find the most challenging.

Alison: Balancing your personal and professional life can be challenging. M&A isn’t a 9-5 job, and there are days when it can be grueling, but you will also have slow days. The point is, it isn’t necessarily the overall hours that you work but rather when those hours are demanded of you. As you become more senior, you are better equipped to handle the work, delegate, and manage your time. No one should sacrifice everything for their job, but it’s important to understand that some sacrifice is required.

What do you like best about your practice area?

Max: The job is demanding and clients have high expectations, but getting a complex transaction to closing is extremely rewarding. Each transaction presents a unique set of circumstances, challenges, and problems. There is immense satisfaction that comes from effectively navigating the issues that arise in a transaction to achieve a desired result for the client. I also enjoy the collaborative nature of M&A. The hours can be long and the work challenging, but you’re not going it alone—it’s a team effort. Collaboration is truly central to our practice’s business-oriented approach. Working closely with colleagues and clients to problem solve is part of the fun.

Alison: Acting as a business advisor to my clients. M&A lawyers are not effective if they are merely providing legal advice in a vacuum. You have to understand your client’s business and what’s important to them. My clients are incredibly sophisticated, but it takes real care and skill to understand how they think and figure out the best way to convey sound, commercially minded legal advice to them so that they can make significant and economically impactful decisions.

What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?

Max: We take formal training seriously, but nothing beats real world experience. We keep deals leanly staffed and try to be intentional about giving junior attorneys proper on-the-job instruction and real responsibility early on in their careers, with the expectation that they can run with discreet aspects of the transaction.

Alison: Junior lawyers are intimately involved in every stage of a deal. At times we will ask them to research certain things such as reverse termination fees for similar deals, to draft a confidentiality agreement or various ancillary agreements, to run a diligence process, and to help manage the rest of the deal team, including all of the specialists.

What kinds of experience can summer associates gain in this practice area at your firm?

Max: In addition to the work, the summer program is designed to provide summer associates with opportunities to meet their future colleagues and to get a feel for the culture of the firm and its different practices. My experience as a summer associate at Fried Frank left an indelible impression on me in this regard. As much as I enjoy my practice, it’s the people I have the privilege of working with every day that defined my experience, then and now.

Alison: Depending on the type and size of the transaction, private equity M&A deals generally have a range of tasks that involve multiple work streams. We integrate everyone at all levels when we can, including our summer associates, no matter what stage of the transaction. They will have the opportunity to learn one-on-one with associates or partners, work from start to finish on a transaction, and listen in real time on calls with clients, colleagues, and other advisors.

Maxwell Yim is a partner in Fried Frank’s M&A and private equity practice in the firm’s New York office. He joined the firm in 2008 and became partner in 2018. Max’s practice focuses on M&A where he represents public and private companies, including private equity firms, in a variety of transactions. He also advises clients in connection with securities laws compliance, corporate governance issues, and other general corporate matters.

Maxwell has been recognized by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in Corporate/ M&A.

Alison McCormick, a partner in Fried Frank’s M&A and private equity practice in New York, represents private equity firms and public and private companies in mergers, stock and asset acquisitions, divestitures, and carve-out transactions. In addition to her experience with private equity transactions, Alison also regularly advises the firm’s clients on general corporate and governance matters.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

I focus my practice on representing investors and private companies in connection with a variety of corporate transactions such as M&A, leveraged buyouts, carve-out transactions, asset acquisitions and dispositions, recapitalizations, joint ventures, and minority and growth equity investments. I also advise companies on day-to-day corporate matters.

What types of clients do you represent?

I represent private equity investors and their portfolio companies as well as other private companies. My clients span across a broad range of industry sectors including technology, software, retail and consumer products, financial services, fintech, and healthcare.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

Most of my practice involves the buying or selling of private companies in the middle market. For private equity clients, I represent investors in connection with platform acquisitions, add-ons, and the subsequent sales of their portfolio companies. For startups and other company clients, I advise them in connection with buy-side and sell-side M&A in which private companies are sold to strategic or financial buyers. I also advise private equity investors in connection with growth equity investments in which the investor acquires a noncontrolling equity interest in the target.

How did you choose this practice area?

I have always found M&A and growth equity to be really exciting and intellectually challenging. Deals are often fast-paced and involve interesting and complex issues, and in most cases, they represent a fundamental transaction to all parties that are involved. I also love being a trusted advisor to my clients; they see me as someone who provides valuable business advice beyond just knowledge of the law.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

It is pretty “typical” for each day to be different than the day before. On any given day, I might spend time reviewing a purchase agreement or other transaction document, discuss key business and legal issues with a client, negotiate deal terms with the other side, and/or advise on a day-to-day corporate matter. The variety keeps it fresh and engaging!

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

I recommend taking any business law-focused classes such as corporations, corporate taxation, M&A, securities regulations, accounting for lawyers, venture capital, etc. In addition, if your law school offers any practical or clinical courses, they are great ways to get some real hands-on experience with contract drafting, communicating with clients, and legal problem-solving. That being said, we expect that you will learn a lot on the job through hands-on experience and participation in our formal training programs, so prior relevant coursework is helpful but not necessary.

What do you like best about your practice area?

I enjoy the fact that transactional work is very collaborative. Although negotiations can sometimes be hard-fought, ultimately, all parties are working toward a common goal: They want to be able to reach a business agreement and close the deal.

What is unique about your practice area at your firm?

At Goodwin, we highly encourage lawyers to cultivate a practice that is unique to them and matches their interests and career goals. For example, some attorneys might focus on a particular industry sector (e.g., healthcare, technology, etc.) or a type of transaction (e.g., debt finance, M&A, funds, growth equity, etc.). In my case, I’ve expanded my practice beyond private equity to include representation of founders and startups in connection with potential sale processes. 

What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?

In typical M&A transactions, junior associates are often tasked with completing corporate legal due diligence, drafting some of the transaction documents, and coordinating communications and tasks with all relevant constituents (e.g., the client, specialists, third-party advisors, opposing counsel, etc.). Importantly, junior associates are often responsible for managing the transaction process to ensure that all required steps are completed on time for signing or closing.

What kinds of experience can summer associates gain at this practice area at your firm?

As a summer associate, you will get staffed on matters just like any other associate, and you’ll be a core member of the deal team. Our summer program is designed to give you a meaningful glimpse into all aspects of a deal. In addition to working on substantive assignments that are appropriate for a junior associate, you will have a chance to shadow other attorneys as they complete due diligence, draft documents, or negotiate on calls.

Katherine Baudistel focuses her practice on representing private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies as well as technology startups in connection with M&A and private equity investment transactions.  Her transaction experience includes M&A, leveraged buyouts, carve-out transactions, asset acquisitions and dispositions, recapitalizations, joint ventures, minority and growth equity investments, and other strategic transactions, as well as general corporate matters.  Her clients span across a broad range of industry sectors, including technology, software, consumer products, financial services and fintech, and healthcare.  Katherine serves as the Hiring Partner for Southern California, is a member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee, is a local counsel leader of Women@Goodwin, and is a Co-Chair of the Women’s Health & Wellness Initiative.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

Marco: As a senior member of a dynamic and incredibly prolific practice, I work with private equity firms on their most important and complex transactions. I help clients build and launch funds that align with their business goals, including some of the most cutting-edge structures in the market. I’ve worked with many of our clients for decades, across the full life cycle of their investments, which is a hallmark of the Paul, Weiss private equity funds practice.

Anusha: I advise on the structuring and operation of a variety of private equity funds, as well as the development and marketing of funds to U.S. and international investors. My team and I advise private equity sponsors on all aspects of their business, including regulatory and compliance matters, investment management M&A transactions, and strategic joint ventures.

What types of clients do you represent?

Marco: Paul, Weiss represents the largest, most sophisticated public managers and private equity firms in the world. Our clients include Apollo, Blackstone, Brookfield, Clearlake, General Atlantic, KKR, Kohlberg, KPS, Oak Hill, Roark Capital, TowerBrook, and TPG, among dozens of others.

Anusha: I represent established mega-fund managers and prominent middle-market private equity firms, as well as up-and-coming private equity firms. At Paul, Weiss, we have longstanding relationships with clients of every size and across the spectrum of investment strategies, so associates get early exposure to a variety of asset managers and transactions.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

Marco: I help the world’s most sophisticated private equity firms raise billions of dollars each year. Our full-service private equity practice, which includes our investment funds, M&A, and finance teams, works on the most impactful fundraises and deals in the market; for example, Apollo’s $20 billion Fund X, among the year’s largest private equity funds; Clearlake’s much-publicized $5.3 billion acquisition of Chelsea Football Club; Brookfield Asset Management’s $1.5 billion strategic partnership with Castlelake; Angelo Gordon’s $2.7 billion sale to TPG; and General Atlantic’s acquisition of Actis, adding $12.5 billion in energy transition assets and establishing General Atlantic as one of the world’s largest managers of impact capital.

Anusha: Successful private equity lawyers earn the trust of their clients and work with them over many years across a broad range of matters. One of my early matters at Paul, Weiss was advising Apollo on Investment Fund IX, the world’s largest private equity fund at the time. Over the years, I’ve deepened that relationship and represented Apollo on increasingly complex, innovative transactions, including on its $20 billion Fund X alongside Marco, clean transition funds, impact funds, secondary platforms, and strategic partnerships.

How did you choose this practice area?

Marco: When I joined Paul, Weiss, I was surrounded by brilliant and supportive senior lawyers like my mentor, Ted Sorensen. At the time, Ted was working with Nelson Mandela to set up a fund that supported voter education in South Africa, my birthplace. After working with Ted on his international practice, he encouraged me to seize the opportunity to help grow Paul, Weiss’ private equity practice, which ended up being a great fit for me because private equity is a truly global product. I was intrigued by the fantastic diversity of businesses and people that you work with all over the world. It’s still like that today: Junior lawyers get to work on the most innovative deals in a global market.

Anusha: After two years practicing corporate law in India, I moved to New York to earn my LL.M. and, thereafter, began my career at Paul, Weiss. As a junior associate, I was drawn to the private equity funds practice because of how quickly you can dive into substantive work and build client and industry relationships, all with the support and mentorship of senior lawyers who are invested in your success. I felt immediately at home among other private equity lawyers who were energetic, smart, ambitious, and excited to take on the next big challenge.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Anusha: I spend my morning working with clients I’ve known and worked with for years on matters or questions related to their business and fund strategy. As the holder of the pen on all of the governing documents of a private equity fund, I answer questions that come in from investors, the internal deal team, or other stakeholders. For the rest of day, I work with my associate teams discussing and reviewing the day’s deliverables and priorities and their individual workflows.

Marco: I spend my day advising clients on new market opportunities and discussing their business goals and interests. Though I oversee close to a dozen client relationships per day, junior lawyers tend to work on matters for three or four clients at once, allowing them to sharpen their skills and master complex legal concepts. As the Co-head of the investment funds group, I spend time with other private equity partners discussing client matters, staffing and administrative matters, and overall strategic goals and initiatives.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

Anusha: There really is no replacement for the incredible on-the-job training at Paul, Weiss, where you get to work alongside and learn from the most talented lawyers in the industry. Financial fluency is an important skill in private equity, as our clients are very commercially minded and expect their lawyers to understand all aspects of their business. In addition to legal teams, we often interact with chief financial officers and the investor relations and operations teams managing the economics and administration of private equity funds, so courses that provide a foundation in accounting and financial models will help with translating complex concepts into legal documents.

What is unique about your practice area at your firm?

Marco: Private equity at Paul, Weiss is exciting and fast-paced, especially right now as we are rapidly growing in New York, Los Angeles, and London, creating abundant opportunities for lawyers at all levels to take on challenging, interesting work and rise to the top of their field. We continue to have a hands-on, entrepreneurial approach. I think this comes from the early days; as our client base has changed from entrepreneurs to the leading private equity firms and institutional asset managers in the marketplace, our roots as commercial and creative problem solvers have stayed intact.

Anusha: Paul, Weiss provides the foundation you need to be commercial and creative. The firm sets you up for success with on-the-ground training and opportunities for long-term career growth. Mentorship is an inherent part of working in this practice, so in addition to the robust formal training programs, there is a lot of organic, day-to-day guidance for associates. Many senior private equity lawyers have “grown up” at the firm and benefited from excellent mentorship; they pay it forward by investing time and effort into associates at all stages of their career.

What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?

Anusha: Junior private equity lawyers at Paul, Weiss are given a lot of responsibility and a lot of support and guidance. Associates aren’t expected to know everything, but you are expected to take ownership of your work, be proactive and responsive to clients, and manage your piece of the puzzle, whether it’s drafting an agreement or solving a substantive issue. The more you demonstrate your ability to thrive with responsibility, the more the clients and senior partners trust you.

Marco: From the moment you join the team, you play an active role in business strategy and execution. You have immediate and regular face time with high-profile clients, as well as with investors, counterparties, and lawyers at other firms, as you work together to find creative solutions to business problems. These are the people who will work beside or across from you for years to come, so we encourage associates to foster and grow their relationships from the beginning.

What are some typical career paths for lawyers in this practice area?

Marco: Private equity offers several distinct career paths, including private funds, private equity M&A, or private equity-focused finance. Junior lawyers at Paul, Weiss have the opportunity to try all of these areas through our rotation system, so they can make an informed decision about the best fit for them. Additionally, lawyers in this area tend to work with and develop an extensive network of creative and influential people, leading to potential opportunities for future work outside of law.

Anusha: I’ll add that the skills you develop for private equity law are versatile and extremely transferrable. The nature of the work gives you a well-rounded understanding of your clients’ business, as well as their portfolio companies’ busi-nesses, which cover a huge spectrum of industries, including everything from infrastructure to technology to consumer brands. Further down the line, associates might go in-house at a private equity firm or at a portfolio company, which creates mutually beneficial synergies.

How important is it to understand your client’s business, and how can junior attorneys gain this insight?

Marco: Important and expected. In private equity, you work with business people as much or more than you work with lawyers, so it’s imperative to have a strong understanding of your client’s business and growth strategy. Early on, it can be hard to see the big picture, so Paul, Weiss prioritizes training and mentorship and offers secondments at clients, where associates can gain unique experience in investor priorities and relationships.

I also love to see junior associates take the initiative in their own careers by proactively and thoroughly preparing for client calls, studying industry news and memos to become fluent in their client’s language, and asking their colleagues thoughtful, informed questions. We have so many brilliant people here at Paul, Weiss, and their doors are always open.

Marco Masotti is the Global Head of the firm's private equity group and Global Co-head of the firm’s investment funds group. Widely regarded as one of the industry’s most prolific and accomplished private equity lawyers, Marco has been named Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer, among the 100 Most Influential of the Decade by Private Equity International, and an MVP in Private Equity and Fund Formation by Law360, among others. A South Africa native, Marco was awarded a Fulbright Placement Award upon graduating from the University of Natal School of Law and earned his LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Anusha Simha is a partner in Paul, Weiss’ corporate department and a member of the investment funds group. She advises leading private equity firms on a variety of transactions, including fund formations, investment management M&A transactions, and strategic joint ventures, among other matters. Recently, she was named a Rising Star by Euromoney’s Women in Business Law and by the International Financial Law Review. She earned her B.A. and LL.B. from India’s Nalsar University of Law and her LL.M. from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

In a nutshell, private equity involves investment managers who employ investment professionals whose job it is to raise capital from limited partners and then invest that capital generally by buying and selling companies. We advise a diverse range of clients across the private equity spectrum, from first-time funds to the largest global sponsors. What those sponsors have done over time has evolved beyond just buying and selling companies and now includes structured equity, growth equity, debt, and basically any creative way you can think of to deploy capital. I work on the full array of transactions in the private equity space, from acquisitions and dispositions to minority investments and general corporate governance matters.

What types of clients do you represent?

While my practice has always been exclusively focused on private equity transactions, my clients and their businesses within that sphere are wide-ranging. I represent the private equity sponsors Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, TPG, Cornell Capital, and CVC, among others, as well as their portfolio companies. I also recently have been focused on first-time funds, which has been an exciting way to spend time as it gives my practice a more entrepreneurial bent. My clients work across industries and geographies.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

As noted above, it’s a broad spectrum. When I started practicing in 2005, private equity clients focused heavily on leveraged buyouts, where a private equity firm will acquire a controlling share of a company. In the two decades since, my practice has evolved with my clients’ practices, which means that, in addition to leveraged buyouts (which still take a majority of my time), I now work on structured equity, growth equity investments, co-control deals, and infrastructure transactions. As my clients have broadened the scope of what they do, I have broadened the scope of what I do.

How did you choose this practice area?

In many ways, I lucked into it. When I was in law school, Weil’s private equity head recruited me to the firm. I didn’t have a good sense of what private equity was at the time, but this partner encouraged me to consider it. During my summer program at Weil, I had a chance to meet a lot of the lawyers in the private equity group, who were terrific, and I ultimately decided to join the group when I returned to the firm as a first-year. Looking back, I still didn’t have a complete understanding of what private equity was at that point, but I took a bet on the people, and it worked out.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

It’s very fluid and often depends on the stages of your transactions. If we have a client who is trying to sign a deal, it can be around-the-clock. At that stage, I’ll be speaking with clients and opposing counsel, negotiating and reviewing documents, and discussing those documents: That’s at the heart of what we do. At earlier stages in the deal cycle, there is a lot of preliminary work we need to do to understand the clients’ business, identify any risks in the transaction, and discuss with the client how we are going to address those risks. Private equity lawyers spend a lot of time with other people, which includes working with the core corporate team at Weil as well as the tax, executive compensation, finance, and other lawyers throughout the firm who are themselves integral members of the team. I make sure everyone is rowing in the same direction, and I spend a lot of time maintaining and building relationships with my clients.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

People might find this surprising, but many of the classes you take in law school are quite valuable and probably more relevant than one would think. Classes like Securities Regulation and Corporations Law stand out. These days, there are more specialized classes focusing on private equity. The classes don’t teach you how to be a corporate lawyer, but the underlying substance has been quite helpful and relevant.

Once you’re at a firm like Weil, associates benefit from robust internal training. For any associate, taking advantage of the internal training and infrastructure that Weil offers can be invaluable. Our firm puts an inordinate amount of time, thought, and effort into making sure that we train our associates on the right topics, with the right people, and at the right cadence.

What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?

I’d say it’s the juggling and prioritizing you have to do across deals and clients. Every day you have to recalibrate your priorities, adapt to changing circumstances and manage expectations while giving everyone your best work. Developing the ability to multitask effectively when you are busy is really the whole job.

It’s helpful to be at a firm like Weil where you have so many people working toward the same goal and who are invested in your success. When I need to tap out to work on something else, I’m always confident that someone else can sub in and make sure things are handled. When I have bandwidth, I can do the same for others. Having that kind of camaraderie in law firm life is so important.

What do you like best about your practice area?

In private equity, you are front and center with clients. I speak with multiple clients on multiple deals every day. I feel very fortunate that my clients are my friends. I see them outside of work, our families know each other, and I feel invested in my clients’ success. When I have a client dinner, I’m looking forward to it because it’s a time to catch up with my friends. Building and maintaining organic and authentic relationships with people I like make my job fun.

What is unique about your practice area at your firm?

The number of lawyers who we coordinate with on any given transaction is impressive. Private equity brings to bear the full weight of the firm, across offices, specialties, geographic regions, and more. Whether with the rest of the corporate group, Weil’s litigation department, the restructuring team, or our tax and executive compensation partners, Weil’s private equity lawyers often have the chance to be the quarterback of the firm, which is incredibly rewarding.

What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?

The first couple of years is about learning how to block and tackle. That means doing a lot of diligence, creating checklists, and making sure things are running smoothly. A good junior associate will be doing all that while also asking questions and making sure that they understand the larger context of the transaction, and as time goes by, you are really learning by osmosis.

And asking questions and keeping an eye on the big picture are important because associates in our private equity group get substantive experience sooner rather than later. Once associates have the blocking and tackling down, they have an incredible opportunity to be involved in actually making the plays—drafting the documents and speaking to clients— early on.

Christopher Machera is Co-head of Weil’s market-leading U.S. private equity practice. Chris started at Weil in 2005 and went to work for the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs before returning to Weil in 2016. He has focused exclusively on private equity transactions throughout his entire career.

In addition to myriad other accolades he has received, Chris has been ranked by Chambers USA and Chambers Global for Private Equity every year since 2019, with clients noting that he is “a rockstar lawyer and a critical partner whilst going through the deal process” who “has the unique ability to both remain very involved in the details yet provide excellent high-level and overarching guidance and advice to his clients.” IFLR1000 recognizes Chris as a Private Equity Market Leader in the United States.

Chris is extensively involved in Weil’s pro bono program, focusing particularly on the criminal justice system. He is also active in Weil’s work with the Innocence Project and leads the firm’s relationship with JustLeadershipUSA, an organization focused on inmates’ rights. Chris led a team who worked with the Public International Law & Policy Group to create a model statute for a hybrid tribunal to prosecute war crimes in Ukraine.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

A significant portion of my practice focuses on advising private equity clients on a broad range of corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, sales, investments, and joint venture transactions. I guide clients through all phases of a deal, from initial negotiations and due diligence to drafting definitive terms and implementing the deal. After a deal closes, I continue to support clients with ongoing portfolio company matters, such as corporate governance, employee-related changes, financing or capital raising transactions, and add-on investments.

What types of clients do you represent?

I represent a diverse range of clients, including private equity firms, public and private companies, family offices, and founders, which is emblematic of Willkie’s broad corporate client base. The work I do on behalf of my clients spans the entire private equity and M&A spectrum, from mid-cap to billion-dollar investments, and touches upon many industries. Throughout my career, I have worked on transactions in hospitality, manufacturing, financial technology, asset management, infrastructure, and retail, among other sectors.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

I work on buy-side and sell-side transactions for private equity and other clients. On the buy side, clients may be participating in an auction process to acquire a company that is exploring a sale or may have a direct investment opportunity. On the sell side, I advise private equity clients who are selling all or a portion of their ownership stake in a portfolio company. Some deals that I’ve recently worked on for private equity clients include the sale of a majority ownership stake in a copper manufacturing company, a strategic partnership with a public cruise company relating to the development of cruise terminals, the acquisition of an infrastructure services company, a significant investment in a public paper company and an agreement for the investor to receive board representation, and the sale of healthcare- and education-based technology platforms.

How did you choose this practice area?

When I was in law school, I did not imagine I would end up working in private equity and M&A. After sampling different practice areas as a summer associate, I ultimately was drawn to the dynamic and collaborative nature of the M&A deal process. I enjoy the challenge of digging in through the diligence process to understand how a business operates and negotiating deal terms that serve my client’s best interests and reflect the overall spirit of the deal. Working with private equity clients is especially rewarding due to the expertise they bring to the process and sector-specific knowledge. It is also exciting to see how a particular transaction fits into a private equity firm’s overall business strategy.

What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Most corporate lawyers will tell you that no day is typical, but that’s what keeps things interesting. Depending on the stage of a deal, common tasks include preparing term sheets and letters of intent, working with advisors to structure a transaction, drafting and negotiating transaction documents, and reviewing diligence materials. The structure and risk profile of a transaction may require the involvement of teams from additional practice groups, and I often work hand in hand with our tax, finance, benefits, intellectual property, real estate, and litigation teams on different aspects of a deal. I am fortunate to be at a firm like Willkie, which has such a strong private equity platform across all practice groups.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

Corporations, Securities Regulation, accounting, Tax, and M&A classes all could help provide foundational knowledge for a private equity and M&A practice. Any other internship or work opportunities that expose you to deal-related work or allow you to gain experience drafting or negotiating would be a plus. That said, law firms like Willkie offer invaluable on-the-job training and help attorneys develop the types of skills needed to succeed in a transactional practice through a mix of training and hands-on experience. Additionally, other important skills should not be undervalued: Strong communication and writing skills, attention to detail, organization, critical thinking, and teamwork are essential for success and will not go unnoticed by more-senior lawyers.

What is the most challenging aspect of practicing in this area?

As is often the case, the most challenging aspects of my practice are also the most rewarding. No deal is the same, and working with different types of private equity clients on a wide range of deals across different industries ensures that I am learning something new on every transaction. It is challenging to encounter new issues, but an important part of the practice is to learn how to grasp new concepts quickly and take advantage of your firm’s collective knowledge. Private equity and M&A work moves quickly, and there is a steep learning curve for new associates as they both become familiar with the deal process and grasp the substantive elements.

What misconceptions exist about your practice area?

Any stereotype about the type of person or personality who will succeed in this practice area is a misconception. A great piece of advice I received as a junior associate was to adopt practice techniques and strategies that I found effective from each lawyer I worked with but also to stay true to myself. There are many ways to be effective and successful as a private equity M&A lawyer: It is not a one-size-fits-all model, and each lawyer needs to find the style that best suits them.

What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?

Conducting due diligence, preparing due diligence reports, preparing and managing the transaction checklist, reviewing and preparing disclosure schedules to a purchase agreement, liaising with target company management, drafting ancillary agreements, forming entities, and coordinating aspects of the deal process.

Willkie staffs junior associates in our corporate group to one or more portfolio company teams, which offer early insight into the day-to-day support we provide to companies of private equity firms. These tasks range from preparing board resolutions to authorize corporate governance and other actions to assisting with equity issuances and add-on transactions and other post-closing items relating to the transaction.

What are some typical career paths for lawyers in this practice area?

In addition to growth at a law firm, many private equity firms have in-house lawyers who advise on general corporate or transactional matters. There also are positions related to private equity, M&A, and general corporate work at companies in any sector at any stage of the company life cycle. I have friends and former colleagues who practiced in private equity and M&A groups at law firms who now work for well-known private companies, as well as those who work in various private equity firms and public companies.

Brittany Klinger is a partner in Willkie’s corporate and financial services department. Brittany’s practice includes advising clients in connection with public and private M&A, divestitures, joint venture transactions, and general corporate matters across a variety of industries. Brittany received both her J.D. and B.A. from Vanderbilt University and is admitted to the bar in the State of New York.