Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Peter Kazanoff

Partner focusing on M&A, securities, and derivative litigations. M&A representations include private equity transactions involving KKR, such as Del Monte, Gardner Denver, and HCA, as well as strategic transactions involving Change Healthcare, First Data, GGP, Microsoft, Convey Health, Tyco, CorpBanca, Eaton, Xerox, and Mars. Securities and derivative representations including Dollar General, Fairfield Greenwich in Madoff-related matters, TD Bank in Stanford-related matters, Envision, Ubiquiti Networks, and PAAMCO Prisma in Kentucky pension litigation.

Jonathan Youngwood

Partner

Stephen Blake

Steve Blake is a Litigation Partner in our Palo Alto office. Steve has extensive experience resolving high-stakes shareholder litigation and securities regulatory matters. Steve regularly advises corporations, financial institutions, funds and their advisors in connection with mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, legal compliance and commercial disputes. Steve also regularly represents entities and individuals before the SEC, FINRA and stock exchanges. Steve frequently writes and lectures on shareholder litigation, fiduciary duties and issues under the Securities Act, Exchange Act, Investment Company Act and Investment Advisors Act. Steve is the author of the quarterly “Stock Block” column in The Recorder. His recent columns “Along Came SPACs, and Then SPAC Litigation,” “Challenges to Corporate Decision-Making in the Face of Increasingly Polarized Responses to ESG Initiatives,” and “Burgeoning ‘Caremark’ Claims Likely to Drive Stockholder Demands” have been widely read. Steve is Co-Head of the Firm’s Asia Litigation Practice and is also Co-Chair of the Firm’s Knowledge & Innovation Committee. Recognized as a 2021 Law360 “Rising Star” in Securities, Steve is also recognized by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation as a “Future Star,” and was a repeat honoree on their “40 & Under List.” Steve was named among the Daily Journal’s “Leading Commercial Litigators” for 2024. He was selected as part of Bloomberg Law’s “40 Under 40” in 2022, and by the Daily Journal as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” lawyers in California in 2018. Steve is consistently recognized by The Legal 500 in both M&A Litigation and Shareholder Litigation, and as a “Rising Star” in Northern California securities litigation by Super Lawyers.

Craig Waldman

Litigation Partner with extensive trial experience who frequently represents issuers, individuals, and underwriters in high-profile securities litigation, including class and derivative actions, in courts throughout the country. Also has considerable experience representing corporate clients, including public companies and leading private equity firms, in transaction-related litigation, corporate governance matters, and corporate control litigations.