Steve Wolosky

Career

A shareholder activism pioneer, Steve Wolosky founded Olshan’s Shareholder Activism Practice more than 30 years ago and has built it into the nation’s leading practice. Today, he is one of the most highly respected and sought-after lawyers in the country advising hedge funds and investment partnerships on activist situations in the United States and worldwide.

Steve is foremost counsel to clients in the market's most significant domestic and cross-border shareholder activism matters, advising on some of the most high-profile activist campaigns year in and year out. Clients regularly seek his shrewd advice in shareholder activism and proxy contest situations and in hostile takeovers of public companies. He has extensive experience representing public and private issuers of debt and equity securities, purchasers and sellers in mergers, stock and asset transactions, and investment funds in their capital raising, and investment transactions. Steve also frequently counsels clients in corporate planning and structuring activities, dealings with stock exchanges, and corporate governance and other public company compliance matters.

Steve’s recent representations have included Engaged Capital at Shake Shack, Elliott Management at Salesforce, Public Storage, Principal Financial Group, and Duke Energy; Starboard Value at eHealth; Impactive at Envestnet; Ryan Cohen at Game Stop; and Chatham Asset Management at R.R. Donnelley. Most notably, Steve led the representation of Starboard Value on its “historic” full board victory at Darden Restaurants and its recent majority board victory at GCP Applied Technologies; H. Partners on its successful, precedent-setting withhold campaign at Tempur Sealy; George Feldenkreis, founder and former Executive Chairman of Perry Ellis International, Inc., in his nomination of directors and successful unsolicited acquisition of Perry Ellis; and Elliott Management in its successful settlements at eBay and Arconic. In international news-making cases, Steve represented foreign clients in successfully obtaining board representation for the first time in Japan, South Korea, and Israel.

Steve goes well beyond advising clients. He provides business-focused strategic counsel that helps his clients drive value and maximize the return on their investments. He advises at every stage, from assessing the ability to affect change to securing board membership and ensuring his clients are well-positioned to successfully navigate any corporate battle.

In addition to maintaining an active practice, as the former chair of the Shareholder Activism Practice Group, Steve oversees work for clients, fields client questions, advises on case strategy and management, guides the firm in professional development, and is a go-to adviser and mentor for the next generation of Olshan leaders.

Steve is regularly quoted as an industry expert in The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Deal, Law360, and other notable media publications discussing important trends in shareholder activism. He was profiled in Business Insider as one of the top go-to lawyers for activist investors. Steve also lectures at corporate and securities law conferences and speaks on distinguished activist panels throughout the country.

He is a current director and former chairman of the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation and Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Longacre Square Partners.

Professional Memberships

• Current Director and Former Chairman of the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation

• New York State Bar Association

Personal

• Steve has been ranked as a "Leading Lawyer" (Band 1) in Corporate/M&A: Shareholder Activism by Chambers USA, since 2017

• Steve has been recognized as a Tier 1 "Leading Lawyer" in The Legal 500 U.S. in in M&A/Corporate and Commercial: Shareholder Activism - Advice to Shareholders, since 2018

• Steve has been included in The Legal 500's inaugural M&A Powerlist - USA Region

• Steve has been consistently selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Securities/Capital Markets Law, since 2013

Steve was named one of the top 13 attorneys in the shareholder activism space by Business Insider in 2022

• Steve is Martindale-Hubbell AV ("Preeminent") rated by his peers

• Steve has been consistently named to the New York Super Lawyers list, a Thomson Reuters lawyer rating service, since 2006

• Awarded Deal of the Year and Activist Campaign of the Year by The Deal for representation of George • Feldenkreis in his nomination of directors and successful unsolicited acquisition of Perry Ellis

Practice Areas

• Activist & Equity Investment Practice

• Corporate/Securities Law

Expert in these Jurisdictions

• New York, 1981

• U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, 1981

• U.S. Court of International Trade, 1981

Education