News
Freshfields adds leading US employee benefits partner
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP announced today that Lori D. Goodman is joining the firm as a partner in its US executive compensation and employee benefits practice, resident in the New York office. Ms. Goodman’s practice focuses on compensation and benefits aspects of M&A, private equity, disclosure, and corporate governance.
“We welcome Lori as a leading executive compensation attorney,” said Freshfields’ Chair Edward Braham. “Our focus on being the premier corporate governance advisor globally, as well as our volume of US M&A work, demands the thoughtful US compensation and benefits advice that Lori is now positioned to provide to our clients.”
Ms. Goodman advises corporate, financial and individual clients and board compensation committees on employment and compensation arrangements, including equity and non-equity incentive plans, and their securities and tax implications. She is further known for insights on compensation disclosure and board oversight of compensation matters. Her M&A expertise ranges from public company mergers to private M&A involving VC-backed and private equity-backed targets.
“Lori will be an excellent addition to our US business. Our M&A, activism defense, shareholder litigation and corporate governance work continues to increase since the recent lateral hiring of partners Ethan Klingsberg, Meredith Kotler, Pam Marcogliese and Paul Tiger, and counsel Andrea Basham, Elizabeth Bieber and Zheng (Jonathan) Zhou. Adding Lori to the equation is critical to delivering to our clients the sophisticated legal skill and judgment they demand,” said US managing partner, Matthew Herman.
“I’m impressed by Lori’s smarts and experience,” observed US head of M&A, Ethan Klingsberg. “She leads clients on the full range of benefits and compensation advice, including Section 409A, Section 16, Section 162(m), and proxy statement and ’33 Act prospectus disclosure. I’m further thrilled that she provides innovative structuring advice on handling of awards and incentive plans in the full spectrum of M&A transactions, whether it’s a public company merger, a takeover of a start-up, or a financial sponsor transaction. Her ability to combine tax expertise with energetic, transaction-focused advice on a real time basis is exactly what our clients are looking for.”
Ms. Goodman has been involved in advice and transactions for public company clients such as Spotify Technology and The Container Store Group and financial sponsor clients such as Leonard Green & Partners, Odyssey Investment Partners and Energy Capital Partners. In addition, she was counsel in 2019’s Peloton IPO.
“I am excited to be joining Freshfields at a time of suchmomentum and strategic focus for the firm,” commented Ms. Goodman. “Working alongside this firm’s M&A, litigation and corporate governance lawyers as we advise clients on both their day-to-day governance needs and their full range of transactions is exactly where I want to be.”
Ms. Goodman earned a BA, cum laude, from Harvard College, and a JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School. She joins from Latham & Watkins LLP, where she was a partner in their employee benefits group, resident in New York.
Freshfields has built an unparalleled offering for clients that combines practices in Europe and Asia, which operate on an unmatched scale and level, with what is now a leading US practice built over the last few years through aggressive lateral hiring, including:
- IP and data privacy partner Mena Kaplan from Paul Weiss;
- a string of lawyers from top government posts (e.g., Aimen Mir, leader of CFIUS for the last several years; Eric Mahr, head of litigation at the Antitrust Division of the DOJ; Eric Bruce, Senior Counsel at the Criminal Division of DOJ and more recently Counselor to the Attorney General; Mary Lehner and Paul Yde, both senior lawyers at the FTC; and Daniel Braun, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of DOJ);
- tax partner Robert Scarborough, who since joining has chaired the tax section of the New York State Bar Association and been consistently ranked one of the nation’s top tax lawyers;
- Adam Siegel and Aaron Marcu, former SDNY prosecutors who have a tier 1 white collar defense practice;
- bankruptcy and restructuring partners Mark Liscio, Madlyn Primoff and Scott Talmadge who had led that group at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer;
- leading capital markets and M&A lawyers Valerie Ford Jacob, Mitchell Presser and Peter Lyons; and
- a team that has joined in the last few months that includes shareholder, securities and merger litigation partner Meredith Kotler; corporate partners and counsel Andrea Basham, Elizabeth Bieber, Ethan Klingsberg, Pam Marcogliese, Paul Tiger, and Zheng (Jonathan) Zhou; and a number of associates who had been leading client relationships and transactions under their supervision.
The firm now has over 380 US lawyers, with over 20 partners and counsel in New York working full-time on corporate work, with a focus on governance, finance, capital markets, SEC matters, activism defense, and a full range of transactional work.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
About Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP is a global law firm with a long-standing track record of successfully supporting the world's leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments on groundbreaking and business-critical mandates. Our 2,800-plus lawyers deliver results worldwide through our own offices and alongside leading local firms. Our commitment, local and multinational expertise, and business know-how means our clients rely on us when it matters most.
For more information contact:
In the US
Nicholle Romero
Nicholle.romero@freshfields.com
+1 212 284 4987
Kayce D’Onofrio
Kdonofrio@prosek.com
+1 646 818 9247