Daniel Neff

Daniel A. Neff is the co-chairman of the Executive Committee and partner in the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which he joined in 1977.  He is a corporate and securities lawyer, and has focused on mergers and acquisitions and advice to boards of directors and board committees.  During his more than 30 years of practice, Mr. Neff has been extensively involved in negotiated as well as hostile acquisitions, and has represented bidders and targets, public and private companies, private equity firms, leveraged acquirers and special committees of directors.  He has represented companies in divestitures, cross-border transactions and proxy contests, and has counseled managements and boards of directors concerning acquisition matters, conflict transactions, corporate governance and other significant issues. 

Mr. Neff lectures frequently on topics relating to his professional interests, was featured in American Lawyer's "Dealmaker of the Year" article in 2001 and 2012 and is listed in Chambers Global Guide, Chambers USA Guide, The Best Lawyers in America and Lawdragon's 500 Leading Lawyers of America.

Among other matters, Mr. Neff is representing Verizon Communications in its pending $130 billion acquisition of the 45% interest in Verizon Wireless owned by Vodafone Plc. He also represented Airgas in successfully defending against a $5.8 billion hostile takeover bid by Air Products and Chemicals; Rohm and Haas in its $18 billion sale to Dow Chemical; Unocal Corporation in its acquisition by Chevron Corporation for $19 billion and its acquisition of Pure Resources; El Paso in its $38 billion sale to Kinder Morgan; Berry Petroleum in its pending $4.9 billion sale to Linn Energy; Chicago Bridge & Iron in its $3 billion acquisition of The Shaw Group; Cooper Industries in its $11.8 billion combination with Eaton Corporation; Alibaba Group in its $7.8 billion repurchase of stock from Yahoo!; Kellogg Company in its $4.6 billion acquisition of Keebler Foods Company and its $2.7 billion cash acquisition of  Procter & Gamble’s Pringles business; Temple-Inland in its $3.7 billion sale to International Paper; Mirant Corporation in its $3.1 billion merger with RRI Energy, Inc. to create GenOn Energy; Smith International in its $11 billion merger with Schlumberger; Centex Corporation in its $3.1 billion merger with Pulte Homes; BEA Systems in its $8.5 billion merger with Oracle; the private equity buyers in the acquisitions of Aramark Corporation, Kinder Morgan, Inc and Harrah's Entertainment Inc; Knight-Ridder, Inc in its merger with the McClatchy Company; Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Apollo Advisors LP in their acquisition of Nalco Chemical Company; Western Wireless Corporation in its merger with ALLTEL Corporation; VoiceStream Wireless Corporation in its merger with Deutsche Telekom AG; Litton Industries Inc in its merger with Northrop Grumman Corporation; Orion Power Holdings Inc in its sale to Reliant Resources, Inc; Mirage Resorts Incorporated in its merger with MGM Grand Inc; Vivendi Universal SA in its acquisitions of United States Filter Corporation and Cendant Software Corporation; Transamerica Corporation in its merger with Aegon NV and its acquisition of Whirlpool Financial Corporation; Newmont Mining Corporation in its acquisitions of Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation Limited, Normandy Mining Limited and Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corporation. He also represented Western Atlas Inc in its merger with Baker Hughes Incorporated, Vons Companies in its merger with Safeway Inc and represented special board committees of Wausau Insurance, Hayes Wheels International and Enron Oil & Gas Company (now EOG Resources Inc).

Mr. Neff graduated magna cum laude from Brown University and from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was notes and comment editor of the Columbia Law Review.

Education

• Brown University, A.B. 1974, magna cum laude
• Columbia Law School, J.D. 1977, (Notes and Comment Editor, Columbia Law Review)

See Library Tab for articles, publications and presentations by Daniel Neff