Marni Lerner > Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP Offices
425 LEXINGTON AVENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10017-3954
NEW YORK
United States
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Marni Lerner

Work Department
Corporate/Private Equity
Position
Co-Head of Simpson Thacher’s Private Equity Mergers and Acquisitions Practice. Represents a mix of private equity and corporate clients, including family and founder-owned companies, in mergers and acquisitions, public and private divestitures, strategic investments and securities law matters. Representations include KKR and its portfolio companies on transactions including Ensono, Neighborly, Teaching Strategies, OverDrive Holdings, Envision Healthcare, BMC, Nature’s Bounty, Del Monte Foods and Internet Brands. Has also advised AEA Investors and Integrum Capital. Has significant experience in retail, consumer, healthcare and TMT industries.
Career
Joined Firm in 1991; Partner in 2000
Education
Harvard Law School, cum laude (J.D., 1991); Amherst College, summa cum laude (B.A., 1988).
Lawyer Rankings
United States > M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts
(Leading lawyers)Praised for its ‘knowledge‘ and ‘leadership‘ within the private equity market, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is a regular advisor to many of the largest and most active funds in the market, handling bulge-bracket and volume mandates for the likes of Blackstone, Apollo, and Warburg Pincus, alongside many others. The firm advises on major buyouts and portfolio transactions, including several of the largest deals in the market, and is able to handle complex arrangements such as carve-outs, take-privates, and consortium arrangements such as Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman’s majority investment in Medline Industries, Inc. ‘True leader‘ Marni Lerner co-heads the team, and remains a leading name in the market, regularly handling high-profile deals such as KKR’s $4.7bn buyout of Global Atlantic, which also saw a key role for Katie Sudol. Co-head Elizabeth Cooper is noted for her active work on behalf of Blackstone, most notably the $5bn acquisition of The Chamberlain Group from Duchossois alongside Anthony Vernace, who continues to establish himself as a go-to for major private equity deals. The highly experienced Gary Horowitz is a senior figure within the team who offers strategic guidance to funds clients, while Palo Alto-based Atif Azher is a key figure for the firm on the West Coast and particularly strong in tech sector transactions. Michael Holick has a growing profile within the market, and is increasingly active on behalf of many of the firm’s bulge-bracket clients and portfolio companies. Lawyers are in New York unless otherwise stated.
Lawyer Rankings
- Leading lawyers - United States > M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts
- Private equity buyouts - United States > M&A/corporate and commercial
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Industry focus > Environment: transactional
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Industry focus > Insurance: advice to insurers
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Tax > Not-for-profit (nonprofit and tax exempt organizations)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
Firm Rankings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Industry focus > Energy transactions: electric power
- Industry focus > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Industry focus > Energy: renewable/alternative power
- Tax > International tax
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- Real estate > Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Corporate governance
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- Industry focus > Insurance: non-contentious
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- International Trade > International trade
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Finance > Project finance