David Katz

David A. Katz is a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City, an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, a senior professional fellow at New York University Center for Law and Business, and an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School.  Previously, he was an adjunct professor of management at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. Mr. Katz is a corporate attorney focusing on the areas of mergers and acquisitions and complex securities transactions, has been involved in many major domestic and international corporate merger, acquisition and buyout transactions, strategic defense assignments and proxy contests, and has been involved in a number of complex public and private offerings and corporate restructurings. He also counsels boards of directors and board committees on corporate governance matters and crisis management.

Mr. Katz has taught Mergers and Acquisitions at New York University School of Law for over 15 years and co-teaches a joint law and business short course on mergers and acquisitions at Vanderbilt University Law School.

In 2004, he was chosen by The American Lawyer as one of the 45 highest performing members of the private bar under the age of 45; in 2005 and 2012, he was selected byThe American Lawyer as a Dealmaker of the Year; in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013, he was named by Directorship as one of the 100 most influential players in corporate governance; and in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, he was named Who's Who Legal's Mergers and Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year. 

Mr. Katz is a member of the American Bar Association, Section on Business Law, where he is co-chair of the Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions Task Force on the Dictionary of M&A Terms and a member of the Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions Subcommittee for Acquisitions of Public Companies.  Mr. Katz is co-chair of the Tulane Corporate Law Institute and is also a member of the Federal Securities Laws Committee, the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.  Mr. Katz is a member of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals and the National Association of Corporate Directors.  He sits on the Board of Directors of The Partnership at Drugfree.org and is a member of the Advisory Board at the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.  He writes a bi-monthly column on corporate governance for the New York Law Journal.

Mr. Katz is a graduate of Brandeis University and New York University School of Law.

Education

• Brandeis University, B.A. 1985, magna cum laude
• New York University School of Law, J.D. 1988, cum laude

See Library Tab for articles, publications and presentations by David Katz