Mr Stefan Atkinson > Kirkland & Ellis LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Kirkland & Ellis LLP
601 LEXINGTON AVENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10022
NEW YORK
United States
Stefan Atkinson photo

Position

Stefan Atkinson litigates a wide range of critical, complex litigation matters for clients in the United States and abroad, including securities, M&A and general commercial suits. He also regularly counsels companies and their directors on issues of corporate governance and litigation, often in connection with major strategic transactions. Stefan’s clients have included Acadia Healthcare, Barnes & Noble, Casper Sleep, Constellation Brands, Eli Lilly, Grubhub, H.J. Heinz, LG Electronics, Mylan, Naver, Pitney Bowes, Qualcomm, Starwood Hotels, Stone Point Capital, Vitamin Shoppe, The Williams Companies and Xerox.

Education

University of Michigan Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 2009, Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship (highest honor at graduation), Managing Editor, Michigan Law Review, Class Speaker, Order of the Coif; Harvard University, A.B., cum laude, 2003, Captain, Harvard Rugby Football Club, President, Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense

(Leading partners)

Stefan AtkinsonKirkland & Ellis LLP

In addition to representing clients in court, Kirkland & Ellis LLP also advises them on strategies to mitigate the risk of M&A-related litigation when conducting acquisitions. The team is experienced in handling suits initiated by activists and stockholders in the wake of both completed transactions and busted deals before both the New York courts and the Delaware Court of Chancery. Sandra Goldstein is sought after by clients facing shareholder-led derivative suits and in the wake of hostile takeovers, notably defending TKO Holdings chairman Vince McMahon alongside Stefan Atkinson following a suit launched by former WWE stockholders in relation to the merger between WWE and Endeavor Group to form TKO Holdings. The highly experienced Yosef Riemer offers decades of experience in handling securities class actions and fraud allegations made against directors and officers. All lawyers mentioned here are based in New York.

United States > Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense

(Next Generation Partners)

Stefan Atkinson Kirkland & Ellis LLP

The ‘highly strategic, commercial, and efficient’ team at Kirkland & Ellis LLP provides formidable representation of corporates, private equity firms and individual officers across the panoply of securities class actions, shareholder derivative matters and M&A disputes. As well as handling its fair share of traditional 10-b 5 stock drop and IPO-related class actions, the team, which has a particularly pervasive presence on the East coast and Midwest of the country, has been at the vanguard of recent trends informing actions brought by the plaintiff bar, including with regard to ESG and SPACs. New York-based attorney Sandra Goldstein combines superb substantive legal knowledge with courtroom expertise and regularly prevails on behalf of defendant companies at both the trial and appellate court levels concerning dispositive motions, motions for preliminary injunctions and expedited discovery. Drawing upon vast expertise in private practice and as a high-ranking justice department official, Chicago-based Mark Filip is very skilled at guiding companies through DOJ probes, including with regard to potential securities fraud, and is skilled at handling parallel governmental investigations and private class action litigation. In New York, Stefan Atkinson has a broad-based securities litigation practice that includes a considerable amount of recent work arising in the aftermath of de-SPAC mergers.