Private Equity and M&A

Built for the needs of middle market private equity funds and their portfolio companies.

A focused practice with deep industry specialization.

Choate launched one of the first private equity funds in 1983, and today we represent many of the country’s best known and most active private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies. Decades of experiencepaired with teams who focus on the middle marketallows us to understand our clients’ business objectives and provide the strategic advice they need to meet their goals. Today, our private equity and M&A team is the largest group in the Firm, with more than 40 lawyers focused on helping our clients execute their most important transactions.

While we have deep bench strength to support large, complex transactions, we staff matters efficiently and do not add unnecessary members to a deal team.  The lead partners on our transactions pride themselves on being heavily involved in the important details and execution.

We work seamlessly with the other related areas in the firm, such as tax, finance, intellectual property, healthcare, employment, benefits, real estate, antitrust and litigation, to support our fund clients in all their investment activities. This integrated team has the experience needed to guide private equity funds and their companies through all stages of a transaction—and their efforts have earned us a reputation for being commercially-focused and working effectively with all parties to a transaction.

 

What We Do Best

Buyouts and Growth Equity

The largest part of our practice involves handling important transactions for our fund clients and their portfolio companies. We regularly lead buyouts, growth equity investments, “add-on” acquisitions, and exit transactions on behalf of private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies.  For portfolio company transactions, Choate ranks as one of the most active law firms in the country.

Healthcare Transactions

Since 2018, we have served as deal counsel in healthcare private equity related transactions with an aggregate value of more than $9 billion. In particular, private equity firms and their healthcare portfolio companies rely on our experience in structuring, negotiating and executing acquisitions and financings, and in dispositions of healthcare investments. By seamlessly integrating our transactional and healthcare regulatory teams, we are able to identify key due diligence issues and assess potential regulatory and compliance risks associated with an investment, as well as potential regulatory consent or notification requirements. We maintain significant expertise in the areas of healthcare practice management models (e.g., DSOs/MSOs in dental, ophthalmology, dermatology, general internal medicine); representation of fertility providers, women’s health, telemedicine, revenue cycle management and health IT providers; and in negotiating credit facilities on behalf of sponsors.

Fund Formation

For fund clients, our work often begins at the fund formation stage. We advise buy-out, growth equity, venture capital, and other private equity funds of all sizes as they raise capital to invest. Knowing what terms investors will accept is critical to a fund's success. Our team’s experience representing sophisticated funds as they go to market gives our clients an edge.  

Real Estate

We serve as real estate counsel to public and private corporations and funds by advising on real estate purchases and sales, investigating real property assets involving mergers, acquisitions and divestitures and advising on leases. 

Key Support Areas

  • Finance – We help private equity clients and their portfolio companies structure and negotiate acquisition loans, leveraged and mezzanine financings, term and revolving credit facilities, working capital loans, and senior and subordinated debt instruments.
  • Tax Our tax attorneys specialize in the complexity of middle-market transactions and provide practical tax advice to support our clients’ deals.
  • Antitrust  We advise our clients regarding their antitrust needs, including in connection with M&A deals, joint ventures, and IP licensing.
  • Benefits, Labor & Executive Compensation We help clients address the particulars of compensation agreements, employment and consulting agreements, executive employment packages, officer and director responsibilities and termination agreements.
  • Cybersecurity & Data Privacy - With decades of government and private practice experience dealing with increasingly complex cybersecurity incidents and data privacy laws, Choate’s cybersecurity and data privacy practice counsels a wide range of businesses and organizations on compliance with U.S. data privacy laws, responding to cybersecurity incidents, conducting and evaluating risk assessments, and handling cybersecurity and privacy litigation.

Recent Accolades

Meet the Team

Brian P. Lenihan

Department Co-Chair - Business

Sarah N. A. Camougis

Co-Chair - Private Equity

Lee S. Feldman

Co-Chair - Private Equity

Michael T. Gass

Chair - Complex Trial & Appellate Litigation

Brian D. Goldstein

Co-Chair - Business & Technology

Julia R. Hesse

Co-Chair - Healthcare

J.P. Jaillet

Chair - Insurance & Reinsurance

Kimberley J. Kaplan-Gross

Partner

Paul C. Laudano

Chair - Real Estate

Eric J. Marandett

Co-Chair - IP Litigation

Sean M. Monahan

Co-Chair - Finance & Restructuring

T.J. Murphy

Co-Chair - Private Equity

John R. Pitfield

Co-Chair - Business & Technology

Alison F. Reif

Chair - Labor & Employment

John F. Ventola

Co-Chair - Finance & Restructuring

William P. Gelnaw, Jr.

Co-Managing Partner

Shaun Barnes

Partner

Sarah Hunt Broughel

Partner

Robert M. Buchanan, Jr.

Partner

John Marshall Chambers

Partner

Gregg B. Cosimi

Partner

Dallas Cruz

Partner

Sabrina Cua

Partner

Mark A. DeFeo

Partner

Andrew P. Erdmann

Partner

Rees M. Hawkins

Partner

Chris Henry

Partner

Andrew J. Hickey

Partner

Kevin T. Jarboe

Partner

Lyndsey M. Kruzer

Partner

Olivier Léger

Partner

Shaina Wamsley London

Partner

Charles E. Lyon, DPhil

Partner

Louis J. Marett

Senior Counsel

John A. Meltaus

Partner

Steve Meredith

Senior Counsel

David Mollo-Christensen

Partner

Peter M. Palladino

Partner

Daniel P. Riley

Partner

Howard S. Rosenblum

Retired Partner

Ed Saad

Partner

Alyson Bagley Stewart

Partner

Michael J. Stick

Partner

Tobin P. Sullivan

Partner

Stephen J. Tonkovich

Partner

Kevin M. Tormey

Partner

Cecilia O. Vega

Partner

Adam M. Zaiger

Partner

Robert V. Jahrling III

Senior Counsel

Brian J. King

Of Counsel

James A. McDaniel

Senior Counsel

Elizabeth Powers

Of Counsel

Thomas E. Shirley

Senior Counsel

Melissa W. Gaied

Principal

Zachary Rosen

Principal

Kevin M. Sarro

Principal

Sean M. Small

Principal

Daniela Badiola Spanos

Principal

Stefano A. Sharma

Counsel

Kevin Milton

Senior Associate

Matt Mortensen

Senior Associate

Benjamin Owens

Senior Associate

Andrew K. Norkiewicz

Senior Associate

Elizabeth Pion

Senior Associate

Frank Pustorino

Senior Associate

Dylan Rogalin

Senior Associate

Dana W. Spigelman

Senior Associate

Ellen Baker

Associate

Orion Berwanger

Associate

Kevin J. Connolly

Associate

Serge C. Doucet III

Associate

Peter Ernst

Associate

Silvia Faria

Associate

Stephen Fleury

Associate

A. Richard J. Harris

Associate

Scott Hefferman

Associate

Tanner Jeffrey Kramp

Associate

Marianna Marques

Associate

Kiera McManus

Associate

Johanna B. Moody

Associate

Sydney Sullivan Nicklas

Associate

David M. Olio

Associate

Jeff Sarasohn

Senior Corporate Counsel

Aspen Schneider

Associate

Cassidy Seamon

Associate

Nicholas Venora

Associate

Julia Zabriskie

Associate

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