Patrick Gadson > Vinson & Elkins LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Vinson & Elkins LLP
The Grace Building
1114 Avenue of the Americas, 32nd Floor
New York 10036
United States
Patrick Gadson photo

Work Department

Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity

Position

Partner

Career

Patrick’s principal areas of practice are private equity, mergers and acquisitions and shareholder activism. Patrick is the New York Chair of V&E’s Shareholder Activism Practice, which advises public companies in competitive proxy solicitations, strategic investor relations, and corporate governance. He also counsels senior management, boards of directors, investment managers and both private equity and strategic investors in a wide variety of complex business transactions, corporate governance matters, strategic investor relations and other special situations. His experience includes advising clients in connection with shareholder activism related investments, hostile takeovers, public and private M&A transactions, strategic minority investments and corporate capital investments.

Lawyer Rankings

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

(Next Generation Partners: Advice to boards)

Patrick GadsonVinson & Elkins LLP

The experienced team at Vinson & Elkins LLP has broad capabilities across the space, with ‘ two partners who head the team, one whose past experience is on the defense side advising corporates, the other whose background is on the investor side advising activists’, with this dual expertise reflected in the work of practice co-heads Patrick Gadson , a specialist in activism defense, and Lawrence Elbaum, who focuses on advising investors and is noted for his ‘unsurpassed experience and knowledge, as well as great problem solving and dispute resolution skills.’ More broadly, clients for the group include the boards of public companies against an increasing wave of activism, and ‘they have unparalleled institutional knowledge and understanding of these situations and the complex, nuanced dynamics’, combining this with standout litigious expertise. Another key member of the team is senior associate Desiree Baca, who regularly advises public companies on proxy fights. All named practitioners are based in New York.