David A. Katz

Partner in the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, an Adjunct Professor at NYU School of Law, a Senior Professional Fellow at NYU Center for Law and Business, and an Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Law. Previously was an Adjunct Professor of Management at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt. A corporate attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions and complex securities transactions, has been involved in many major domestic and international corporate merger, acquisition and buyout transactions, strategic defense assignments, hostile bids and proxy contests, and has been involved in a number of complex public and private offerings and corporate restructurings; counsels boards of directors and board committees on corporate governance matters and crisis management. Mr. Katz has taught Mergers and Acquisitions at New York University School of Law for over fifteen years and co-teaches a joint law and business short course on Mergers and Acquisitions at the Vanderbilt University School of Law, and writes a column for the New York Law Journal on corporate governance. Member of the American Bar Association, Section on Business Law (Chair of the Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions Task Force on the Dictionary of M&A Terms ), Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions Task Force on Public Company Acquisitions, Federal Securities Laws Committee; New York State Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals and the National Association of Corporate Directors. In 2004, chosen by The American Lawyer as one of the 45 highest performing members of the private bar under the age of 45; in 2005, chosen by The American Lawyer as a Dealmaker of the Year; in 2007 was named by Directorship as one of the 100 most influential players in corporate governance and, in 2009-13, was named Who’s Who Legal’s Mergers and Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year. Specialties: Mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, complex securities transactions, strategic defense assignments, hostile bids and proxy contests; counsels boards of directors and board committees on corporate governance matters and crisis management.