Neil Townsend > Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP‘s practice remains prolific in private equity transactions, supervising a large volume of upper middle-market and bulge-bracket deals from its offices across the United States and abroad. Wide geographic breadth and sector expertise enables the team to advise on a diverse array of platform deals, add-on acquisitions, take-private transactions, and portfolio company mergers, including a growing number of transactions in sectors such as energy and healthcare as well as investments in the industrials and tech sectors. Jeffrey Poss is a key contact for the latter and recently advised Cetera on a $1.2bn take-private acquisition of fintech company Avantax. Poss co-leads the practice from New York with Neil Townsend, who is an expert on structuring, negotiating and implementing leveraged buyouts. Key contacts in Houston include energy transactions experts Sarah McLean, who joined from A&O Shearman in January 2024, and Archie Fallon. New York lawyer Matthew Rizzo is a specialist for private equity buyouts in the healthcare sector.