Deborah L. Paul is a partner in the Tax Department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz where she specializes in the tax aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, spinoffs and financial instruments. Paul has been the principal tax lawyer on numerous domestic and cross-border transactions, including strategic acquisitions and private equity buyouts, in a wide array of industries. Paul is a frequent speaker at Practising Law Institute and New York State Bar Association conferences on tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions and related topics.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Tax Lawyers | 2026 | M&A, Transactional Tax |
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2026 | Tax |
| The Inaugural Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Tax Lawyers | 2025 | M&A, Transactional Tax |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2025 | Tax |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2024 | Tax |
| The 2022 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2022 | Tax |
| Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2021 | Tax |
Paul has recently represented:
- Warner Bros. Discovery in its $110 billion acquisition by Paramount
- ConocoPhillips in its $22.5 billion acquisition of Marathon Oil
- Jacobs in its “reverse Morris Trust” spin-off and combination of Jacobs’ Critical Mission Solutions and Cyber & Intelligence government services businesses with Amentum resulting in a combined company valued at $7.85 billion
- FIS in the sale of a majority stake in its Worldpay Merchant Solutions business to GTCR in a transaction valuing Worldpay at $18.5 billion
- MDU Resources Group in the $2.4 billion spinoff of Everus and $1.6 billion spinoff of Knife River
- Core Scientific in its acquisition by CoreWeave
- Capri Holdings in its $1.375 billion sale of Versace to Prada
- STAAR Surgical in its $1.5 billion acquisition by Alcon
- Aramark in the $2 billion spinoff of its Uniform Services business
- CONSOL Energy in its $5.2 billion merger with Arch Resources
- Nielsen in its $16 billion acquisition by Evergreen Coast Capital and Brookfield and the $2.7 billion sale of Nielsen’s Global Connect business to Advent International
- W.R. Grace in its $7 billion acquisition by Standard Industries
- Danone in its acquisition of Kate Farms, sale of its Horizon Organic and Wallaby businesses to Platinum Equity and sale of Vega to WM Partners
- New York Media in its sale to Vox Media