Bio

Dionne Rousseau is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group. She provides corporate finance, securities, mergers and acquisitions, and other transaction and corporate counsel to public and private entities. Dionne has served as lead outside corporate and securities counsel for 12 public companies and as boardroom lawyer for four of these entities. With more than 25 years of experience handling corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions transactions, she has led client service teams and deal teams for clients across many industries. Representative matters include serving as lead corporate and securities counsel in the $260 million sale of two divisions of a public company and as board counsel in a public company’s strategic planning process that resulted in a $50 million cash dividend and stock repurchase program. Dionne was also lead counsel to a large private international manufacturing company based in the Gulf South in its sale to a foreign buyer. She served as lead counsel to a public offshore drilling company in connection with raising $1.5 billion to emerge from Chapter 11 — named Energy Deal of the Year by The M&A Advisor. Dionne has been ranked in Chambers USA in the Corporate/M&A category since 2005 and has appeared in The Best Lawyers in America since 1999. Dionne provides ongoing corporate and securities law advice to public companies, their boards of directors, and management, including reviewing periodic reports and proxy statements to be filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission; advising on the disclosure and other requirements of the SEC, NYSE, and NASDAQ; counseling regarding trends in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters; and advising on fiduciary duties, corporate governance, corporate compliance programs, and shareholder engagement and activism. She has been an invited speaker on many of these topics. Dionne has represented domestic issuers and foreign private issuers, as well as companies and funds in connection with private equity transactions. Committed to community service, she is chair of City Year Baton Rouge’s Advisory Board and immediate past chair of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children. Dionne has also served on the Executive Committee of the Board of the Bureau of Governmental Research in New Orleans and on the Board of Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans. Dionne has served as an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, teaching corporations and business organizations. Prior to practicing law, she was an investment banker with PaineWebber (now UBS) in New York City.