Mr Shaun Mathew > Kirkland & Ellis LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Kirkland & Ellis LLP
601 LEXINGTON AVENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10022
NEW YORK
United States
Shaun Mathew photo

Position

Shaun is a corporate partner and a leader of Kirkland’s Shareholder Activism & Hostile Takeover Defense practice. He counsels public companies and their boards of directors on shareholder activism and hostile takeover response and preparedness, investor engagement, and corporate governance matters, including those related to diversity, sustainability and other ESG related issues. In addition, Shaun is a member of Kirkland’s Crisis Response practice, counseling clients on governance and communications considerations in high-profile crisis situations.

His recent experience includes defending public companies and private equity sponsors in several of the most high profile challenges to M&A transactions, and he has defended clients against campaigns mounted by a number of activist investors including Elliott Management, Carl Icahn, Starboard Value, JANA Partners, and Engaged Capital.

Shaun is a frequent speaker on shareholder activism, corporate governance and ESG topics and has guest lectured at Harvard Law School and the University of Michigan Law School, among others. His articles have been featured in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, and he has been quoted in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal and The Deal.

Education

Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude; New York University, B.A., Economics & Politics, summa cum laude

Lawyer Rankings

United States > M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism

(Leading lawyers: Advice to boards)

Shaun MathewKirkland & Ellis LLP

Public companies as well as boards of directors targeted by activists and unsolicited corporate bidders are key clients for the team at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, based out of the firm’s New York office. The multidisciplinary team draws on expertise from many of the firm’s other areas of practice, including M&A, capital markets, ESG, litigation and restructuring, allowing clients to adapt their strategic and defense communication to important market players. Shaun Mathew, Daniel Wolf, and Sarkis Jebejian are among the standout team members whose individual strengths add to the team’s versatility – Mathew is a member of the firm’s crisis response practice group and is therefore well placed to assist clients with high-profile crisis situations including cyber-attacks and short-term activist attacks. An especially noteworthy recent matter of Mathew’s was advising Huntsman Corporation, together with Wolf, on its successful proxy contest defense against prominent activist Starboard Value LP.