Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

A host of prolific activist investors look to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP‘s New York-based team for advice on their high-profile campaigns, with recent work including a number of successful campaigns for the replacement of a CEO at a major company. While its strongest and most highly populated offering is in advice to shareholders, the firm is one of very few to also advise on the board side in this area; young partners Daniel Raglan and Kiran Kadekar are the names to note on that front. Department head Richard Brand co-chairs the wider corporate law team with William Mills and is a longstanding advisor to public companies, hedge funds, private equity firms and investment banks on shareholder activism and defense. The team was also bolstered by the hire of Michael Pinnisi from an in-house position in January 2023; he is a veteran of the practice area, having handled proxy contest litigation at Hudson Executive Capital.