David Brittenham

Practice Areas

David Brittenham is a retired partner who is of counsel to the firm. He focused his practice on complex leveraged and acquisition financings, such as the $15 billion acquisition of Hertz by Carlyle, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Merrill Lynch Private Equity and the $5.9 billion acquisition of King Digital by Activision Blizzard.

Mr. Brittenham is a contributing author of The Private Equity Primer: The Best of the Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report and the Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report and is co-author of “Bond Restructuring Challenges,” Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report (Fall, 2015, Volume 15, Number 2); “Alternative Leveraged Lending Structures And Limitations,” Law360 (June, 2015) and “United States: Everything Old Is New Again: PIK Notes,” Mondaq (February, 2015). He acted as co-chair for PLI’s Leveraged Financing and Private Equity Acquisition Financing Summit programs from 2006 to 2018.

Mr. Brittenham joined Debevoise in 1985 and became a partner in 1992. He received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1977 and his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 1984, where he was articles editor of the Columbia Law Review. Prior to joining Debevoise, Mr. Brittenham served as a law clerk to the Hon. Jack B. Weinstein, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, from 1984 to 1985.