Bio

enise Carkhuff has acted as the lead lawyer on M&A and private equity transactions for more than 25 years. Her experience includes a variety of industries, jurisdictions, and deal structures. Denise has experience in the full life cycle of a company (from formation, capital raising, dividend recapitalizations, IPOs, sales, and dissolutions). Denise's main focus is the representation of private equity funds. She has served in a general counsel function for countless private companies, including portfolio companies of private equity funds. Denise Carkhuff has worked with many private equity funds, including Blue Point Capital Partners, Centre Lane Partners, Cortec Group, Edgewater Capital Partners, Morgan Stanley Private Equity, The Riverside Company, and Wellspring Capital. She also represents private companies or their management teams in their ultimate sale and also has been involved with many complex M&A transactions involving public and private clients. She is a member of the board of Friends of Breakthrough Schools, a top-rated network of free public charter schools; the Achievement Centers for Children, a nonprofit whose mission is to empower children and adults with disabilities; and First Tee, a youth development organization introducing golf and its inherent values to kids and teens. Denise developed, and led for more than a dozen years, Women In Transactions, a networking group for women doing transactional work. She co-leads RRAIN, a Cleveland women lawyers group at Jones Day. Denise was a member of the 2018 Leadership Cleveland class.