Mr Shaun Mathew > Kirkland & Ellis LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Kirkland & Ellis LLP
601 LEXINGTON AVENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10022
NEW YORK
United States
Shaun Mathew photo

Position

Shaun is a corporate partner and a leader of Kirkland’s Shareholder Activism & Hostile Takeover Defense practice. He counsels public companies and their boards of directors on shareholder activism and hostile takeover response and preparedness, investor engagement, and corporate governance matters, including those related to diversity, sustainability and other ESG related issues. In addition, Shaun is a member of Kirkland’s Crisis Response practice, counseling clients on governance and communications considerations in high-profile crisis situations.

His recent experience includes defending public companies and private equity sponsors in several of the most high profile challenges to M&A transactions, and he has defended clients against campaigns mounted by a number of activist investors including Elliott Management, Carl Icahn, Starboard Value, JANA Partners, and Engaged Capital.

Shaun is a frequent speaker on shareholder activism, corporate governance and ESG topics and has guest lectured at Harvard Law School and the University of Michigan Law School, among others. His articles have been featured in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, and he has been quoted in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal and The Deal.

Education

Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude; New York University, B.A., Economics & Politics, summa cum laude

Lawyer Rankings

United States > M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism

(Leading lawyers: Advice to boards)

Shaun MathewKirkland & Ellis LLP

The New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP houses a shareholder activism and hostile takeover defense team that is well regarded for handling some of the most complex and high-profile matters in the US market. The firm draws on its wider strength across related departments in M&A, capital markets, ESG, litigation and restructuring to provide strategic advice to prevent costly proxy fights. However, the team is experienced when those contests do arise and has been one of the firms at the forefront of contests under the SEC’s new universal proxy rules. Shaun Mathew is ‘efficient, thoughtful, creative and aggressive‘ in his counsel to a range of well-known companies and board members, with Sarkis Jebejian being another key figure to note. Eric Schiele and Daniel Wolf are particularly strong in matters arising from M&A.