North America - United States • M&A/corporate and commercial

Latham & Watkins LLP

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Premier asset managers and investment funds, including Apollo, Warburg Pincus, and Carlyle, rely on Latham & Watkins LLP‘s ’extremely knowledgeable and highly skilled‘ team for advice across the full array of private equity deals, with the team boasting noteworthy capabilities in take-private acquisitions, SPAC mergers and cross-border M&A in addition to offering integrated fund structuring and financing expertise. The practice is particularly active in handling transactions in the tech, life sciences, and infrastructure sectors, with New York lawyer David Allinson recently leading on Blackstone Infrastructure Partners’ $2.15bn equity investment in the utility company NIPSCO. Alexandra Kelly, who handles public and private M&A in addition to advising sponsors on the buyouts of other asset management funds, is also situated in New York and co-leads the practice with Boston-based growth investments and hybrid capital expert Kristen Grannis. Washington DC-based leveraged buyout and cross-border investment expert Paul Sheridan is a further key member of the team, as are the New York-based practitioners Howard Sobel, who is renowned for his experience with take-private transactions, Justin Hamill, who is adept at handling high-value deals in the TMT, retail, and financial services sectors, and David Beller, who guides clients through complex leveraged deals and carve-out transactions. Daniel Lennon retired from the partnership in December 2023, while New York partner Amber Banks and Washington DC's Brian Mangino arrived from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in September 2023. New York-based lawyer Justin Rosenberg joined the team in April 2024 following stints at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Extremely knowledgeable and highly skilled - knows when and how to separate business issues from legal issues. Highly skilled at explaining tradeoffs.’

  • ‘Alex Kelly is absolutely first rate. She has an uncanny feel for our business and what we are trying to achieve on a deal. She really feels like a member of our team.’

  • ‘Diligent, great follow-up, thorough, and have excellent business sense.’

Key clients

  • Silver Lake
  • Blackstone Infrastructure Partners
  • ArcLight Capital
  • Endeavor Operating Company
  • Authentic Brands Group
  • Warburg Pincus
  • Odyssey Partners
  • Onex Corporation
  • Carlyle Group
  • MS Capital Partners
  • GFL Environmental
  • Rockpoint Gas Storage
  • Platinum Equity
  • Leonard Green
  • L Catterton
  • Astorg Partners
  • Cogentrix Power
  • Azimut Partners
  • Avenue Capital

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Howard Sobel

Hall of fameLatham & Watkins LLP

Howard Sobel is a partner in the New York office of Latham & Watkins. Mr. Sobel is former Co-chair of the US Private Equity Practice and a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions and Public Company Representation Practices.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Kristen Grannis, Alexandra Kelly

Other key lawyers

Paul Sheridan, Howard Sobel, David Beller, David Allinson, Justin Hamill, Amber Banks, Brian Mangino, Justin Rosenberg