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Profile Picture

Barbara L. Becker

Barbara
Becker

Chair & Managing Partner

CONTACT INFO

bbecker@gibsondunn.com

TEL:+1 212.351.4062

FAX:+1 212.351.6202

New York

200 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10166-0193 USA

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PRACTICE

Mergers and Acquisitions Capital Markets Emerging Companies Fashion, Retail and Consumer Products Life Sciences Media, Entertainment and Technology Private Equity Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance Shareholder Activism

BIOGRAPHY

Barbara L. Becker is Chair and Managing Partner of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  She is the seventh Chair and Managing Partner in the firm’s 133-year history.  Prior to becoming the firm’s Chair and Managing Partner, Ms. Becker served as Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group for over a decade, and also created and led the firmwide Diversity Committee.

Ms. Becker advises companies on all significant business and legal issues, including mergers and acquisitions (including domestic and cross-border), spin-offs, joint ventures and general corporate matters.  Ms. Becker also advises boards of directors and special committees of public companies.  Ms. Becker represents corporations and investment banks based in and outside of the United States and other investors in their M&A activities.  Ms. Becker focuses on clients in the consumer/retail, technology, healthcare and industrial industries.

Highly regarded as one of the elite M&A lawyers in New York, Ms. Becker has been recognized by:

  • Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business;
  • Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business;
  • The Legal 500 US as “Leading Lawyer”;
  • The Best Lawyers in America®;
  • BTI Consulting as a “BTI Client Service All-Star”;
  • New York Metro Super Lawyers;
  • International Financial Law Review as a “Market Leader,” to its list of “Women Leaders” for the past four years and also the winner in the “Mergers & Acquisitions” category at its Americas Women in Business Law Awards;
  • Lawdragon as one of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America” and “500 Leading Dealmakers in America”;
  • The Deal’s “Women in M&A: The Powerhouse 20” and “Top Women in Dealmaking”;
  • Euromoney’s Legal Media Group Expert Guides in its Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law and its Guide to the World’s Leading Banking, Finance and Transactional Lawyers;
  • Who’s Who Legal M&A and Governance
  • LMG Life Sciences as a “Life Sciences Star” for Mergers & Acquisitions;
  • New York Law Journal’s list of the “Top Women in Law”;
  • The National Law Journal’s list of “Outstanding Women Lawyers”;
  • Law360’s list of “Top Female Deal Makers”;
  • Crain’s New York Business as one of its “Notable Women in Law” and one of its “Forty under Forty:  New York’s New Generation of Leaders”; and
  • The AmLaw Daily as “Dealmaker of the Week” for her representation of Kraft Foods, Inc. in its $19 billion acquisition of Cadbury.

Ms. Becker’s corporate clients include Accenture, General Electric, Kraft Heinz, Merck, News Corp., PepsiCo and VMware, among others.

Ms. Becker’s investment bank clients include Centerview, Evercore, Guggenheim Securities, Lazard and UBS, among others.

Ms. Becker earned her Juris Doctor in 1988 from New York University School of Law.  She received her undergraduate degree in 1985 from Wesleyan University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  Ms. Becker is a member of the Board of Trustees of New York University School of Law.  Ms. Becker is also Chair of the New York City Bar’s Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Control Contests Committee.

EDUCATION

New York University - 1988 Juris Doctor

Wesleyan University - 1985 Bachelor of Science

ADMISSIONS

New York Bar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Firm News - January 17, 2023 | Lawdragon Names 19 Partners Among its 2023 500 Leading Lawyers in America and Hall of Fame Honorees
Firm News - October 6, 2022 | Twenty-Two Gibson Dunn Lawyers Recognized in Expert Guides’ Women in Business Law
Firm News - October 6, 2022 | Thirty-Nine Gibson Dunn Partners Recognized in Banking, Finance and Transactional Expert Guide 2022
Firm News - September 21, 2022 | LMG Life Sciences 2022 Recognizes Gibson Dunn in Six Practices and Names 13 Lawyers Stars
Client Alert - August 9, 2022 | Annual Activism Update – 2021
Firm News - June 22, 2022 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2022 U.S. Legal 500
Firm News - May 16, 2022 | Barbara Becker and Saee Muzumdar Named Among Top Women in Dealmaking 2022
Firm News - May 4, 2022 | Three Who’s Who Legal 2022 Guides Recognize 13 Gibson Dunn Partners
Firm News - April 1, 2022 | Barbara Becker, Linda Curtis, and Patricia Tan Openshaw Named IFLR1000 Women Leaders for 2022
Firm News - February 23, 2022 | Lawdragon Names 15 Partners Among its 2022 500 Leading Lawyers in America and Hall of Fame Honorees
Firm News - December 21, 2021 | Crain’s Names Barbara Becker a 2022 Notable Woman in Law
Firm News - October 7, 2021 | Thirty-Eight Gibson Dunn Partners Recognized in Banking, Finance and Transactional Expert Guide
Firm News - October 7, 2021 | Seventeen Gibson Dunn Partners Recognized in Expert Guides’ Women in Business Law
Firm News - September 29, 2021 | LMG Life Sciences Recognizes Gibson Dunn in Six Practices and Names 13 Lawyers Stars
Firm News - June 29, 2021 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2021 U.S. Legal 500
Press Releases - May 27, 2021 | A Statement in Support of the Jewish Community
Firm News - May 13, 2021 | Seventeen Partners Named Among the 2021 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America
Firm News - May 5, 2021 | Barbara Becker and Linda Curtis Named IFLR1000 Women Leaders for 2021
Press Releases - March 3, 2021 | Gibson Dunn Elects New York M&A Lawyer Barbara Becker as Chair and Managing Partner
Client Alert - February 22, 2021 | M&A Report – 2020 Year-End Activism Update
Firm News - January 25, 2021 | Barbara Becker Named Among Top Women in Dealmaking 2020
Firm News - December 22, 2020 | Crain’s Names Barbara Becker a 2021 Notable Woman in Law
Firm News - December 10, 2020 | Twelve Partners Named 2020 BTI Client Service All-Stars
Client Alert - October 9, 2020 | M&A Report – 2020 Mid-Year Activism Update
Firm News - October 8, 2020 | LMG Life Sciences Names 13 Partners as Stars
Firm News - October 7, 2020 | 33 Gibson Dunn Partners Recognized in Banking, Finance and Transactional Expert Guide
Firm News - September 22, 2020 | Thirteen Gibson Dunn Partners Recognized in Expert Guides’ Women in Business Law
Firm News - July 6, 2020 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2020 U.S. Legal 500
Firm News - June 24, 2020 | Barbara Becker and Linda Curtis Named IFLR1000 Women Leaders for 2020
Client Alert - May 11, 2020 | M&A Report – 2019 Year-End Activism Update
Client Alert - March 18, 2020 | M&A Amid the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Crisis: A Checklist
Client Alert - October 7, 2019 | M&A Report – 2019 Mid-Year Activism Update
Firm News - August 15, 2019 | Gibson Dunn Lawyers Recognized in the Best Lawyers in America® 2020
Firm News - July 24, 2019 | Linda Curtis and Barbara Becker Named IFLR1000 Women Leaders for 2019
Firm News - June 20, 2019 | Gibson Dunn Transactions Named Private Equity Deal of the Year and Consumer, Retail, Food & Beverage Deal of the Year by The Deal
Publications - June 1, 2019 | Evolution of the ‘Material Adverse Effect’ Clause
Client Alert - March 25, 2019 | M&A Report – 2018 Year-End Activism Update
Firm News - December 18, 2018 | Barbara Becker Named to The Deal’s Powerhouse 20
Article - November 8, 2018 | Akorn v. Fresenius: Delaware Chancery Court Upholds MAE-Based Termination
Client Alert - October 15, 2018 | M&A Report – Flood v. Synutra Refines “Ab Initio” Requirement for Business Judgment Review of Controller Transactions
Client Alert - October 3, 2018 | M&A Report – 2018 Mid-Year Activism Update
Client Alert - October 2, 2018 | M&A Report – Fresenius Marks a Watershed Development in the Analysis of “Material Adverse Effect” Clauses
Firm News - June 25, 2018 | Gibson Dunn Transaction Named Private Equity Deal of the Year by The Deal
Firm News - June 8, 2018 | Linda Curtis and Barbara Becker Named IFLR1000 Women Leaders
Client Alert - April 5, 2018 | M&A Report – AOL and Aruba Networks Continue Trend of Delaware Courts Deferring to Deal Price in Appraisal Actions
Article - February 1, 2018 | Dell, DFC Global and the Changing Landscape of Appraisal Actions
Client Alert - January 29, 2018 | M&A Report – 2017 Year-End Activism Update
Client Alert - December 18, 2017 | M&A Report – Delaware Supreme Court Reaffirms the Importance of Deal Price As an Indicator of Fair Value in Appraisal Actions
Client Alert - August 15, 2017 | M&A Report: 2017 Mid-Year Activism Update
Client Alert - June 13, 2017 | M&A Report – PetSmart and SWS Group Are Welcome News for Buyers Facing Appraisal Actions in Delaware
Article - June 1, 2017 | The Narrowing Window for the ‘Merger Tax’ in M&A Stockholder Lawsuits
Client Alert - April 12, 2017 | M&A Report – Delaware Chancery Court Finds Stockholder Vote To Be Coerced and Not Fully Informed in In re Saba Software, Inc. Stockholder Litigation
Client Alert - March 29, 2017 | M&A Report – Transactions with Non-Conflicted Controlling Stockholders and Obtaining the “Fully Informed, Uncoerced Vote” of Disinterested Stockholders
Client Alert - February 17, 2017 | M&A Report – New York and Delaware Part Ways on M&A “Disclosure-Only” Settlements
Client Alert - January 9, 2017 | M&A Report – 2016 Year-End Activism Update
Client Alert - August 16, 2016 | M&A Report – 2016 Mid-Year Activism Update
Client Alert - February 2, 2016 | M&A Report: 2015 Year-End Activism Update
Client Alert - August 10, 2015 | M&A Report – 2015 Mid-Year Activism Update
Client Alert - January 30, 2015 | M&A Report – 2014 Activism Update
Client Alert - February 3, 2014 | M&A Report – Winter 2014
Client Alert - July 22, 2013 | M&A Report – Summer 2013
Client Alert - February 19, 2013 | M&A Report – Winter 2013
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