Ethan A Klingsberg

Ethan co-heads Freshfields' US Corporate practice in New York. His practice comprises M&A, public company board and independent committee, activism-response, governance, corporate, and SEC matters. His M&A practice covers mergers of mature companies, acquisitions of start-ups, and separations by spin-off, split-off, spin/merger, carve-out IPO, and divestitures. He regularly helps companies prevail against, manage, and work with “activist stockholders,” including in scenarios where these stockholders have board seats, are seeking board seats, and do not have board seats. In addition, he advises boards and controlling shareholder groups on creative capital structures and governance and liquidity arrangements, including in connection with IPOs (e.g., Pinterest and Levi Strauss & Co.), recapitalizations and the creation of autonomous subsidiaries. Ethan is recognized among M&A “MVPs,” and “Dealmakers of the Year” and “Legends of 2020” by Law360, The American Lawyer and Law Dragon, respectively; won the Burton Award for Legal Achievement for writing on fiduciary duties; and was selected by his peers to be a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel. He’s led some of the most high profile M&A projects in recent years, including multibillion dollar transactions (Google/Mandiant, Ericsson/Vonage, BP/Archaea Energy, Cargill/Sanderson, Saint-Gobain/GCP Applied Technologies, Stanley Black & Decker/Securitas); the largest acquisition of a US target in 2020 (AstraZeneca/Alexion); the defense and merger of Family Dollar; and the sales of Dun & Bradstreet and Burger King to private equity consortia.