Bio

Joseph Gilligan is a leading M&A and corporate governance lawyer with more than 25 years of experience representing publicly and privately held companies, boards of directors, strategic investors, and special committees in all types of M&A and other complex transactional and governance matters. Joe has served as primary outside counsel to a broad range of public, private, and non-profit companies, and he regularly counsels boards of directors and committees on corporate governance issues, fiduciary duties matters (including in the M&A and activist shareholder contexts), and compliance with U.S. federal securities laws. He previously served as co-head of our Corporate practice group for the Americas and as co-chair of our U.S. M&A committee. As co-director of our activist investor practice, Joe regularly assists clients in preparing for, engaging with, and defending against activist shareholders. In M&A matters, Joe has extensive experience advising clients on public and private mergers, tender offers, and going-private transactions, as well as proxy contests, strategic investments, and cross-border acquisitions. He helps acquiring and target companies, as well as special committees of independent directors, in connection with hostile and unsolicited takeover proposals and anti-takeover defenses. In addition to regularly representing life sciences and health care companies in transactional matters, Joe regularly represents companies in a broad range of industry sectors including real estate and real estate investment trusts (REITs); technology, media, and telecom (TMT); energy and infrastructure; and industrial and consumer goods. Joe is frequently recognized as a top lawyer in his field by Chambers and the Legal 500. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught the course "Takeovers, Mergers & Acquisitions."