Jennifer Bellah Maguire

Jennifer Bellah Maguire is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Los Angeles office and a member of the firm’s Investment Funds Group. Jennifer’s practice focuses on private equity fund formation and mergers and acquisitions, including public company transactions and divestitures. Jennifer specializes in representing parties to asset manager transactions (investors and sponsors) ranging from seeding new sponsors and General Partner stakes investments to full acquisitions as well as sponsor recapitalizations and restructurings of sponsor firms, including in connection with initial public offerings and other exits.

Jennifer has been recognized as a leading lawyer by:

• Chambers Global has recognized her as a leading lawyer from 2012-2019 in the area of Private Equity: Buyouts and from 2012-2013 in the areas of Investment Funds: Private Equity: Fund Formation.
• Chambers USA has recognized Jennifer as a leading lawyer in the areas of Private Equity: Fund Formation and Buyouts, in California Corporate M&A: Private Equity and in Southern California Corporate M&A.
• Expert Guides named Jennifer to its 2017 Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law.
• Chambers USA shortlisted Jennifer in the ‘Women in Law’ Awards in the Corporate M&A Lawyer of the Year category, 2012.
• The Los Angeles Business Journal named her as one of the 'Most Influential M&A Advisors' (2013) and ranked her among 'The Best of the Bar' for Corporate Transactions (2007).
• Jennifer has been selected by her peers for inclusion in 2006-2025 editions of The Best Lawyers in America® in the fields of Securities/Capital Markets Law.
• Who’s Who Legal list of Private Fund Lawyers for 2011, 2018, and 2019.
• The National Diversity Council recognized Jennifer on the 2016 Top 50 Women Lawyers list.

Highlights of Jennifer’s experience includes:

• Formation and corporate representation of Candle Media, LLC, a media and entertainment company founded by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs and backed by Blackstone.
• RidgeLake Partners in numerous General Partner Stakes investments.
• Leslie’s PoolMart in the sale of the company to LCatterton and corporate counsel subsequent to its 2020 initial public offering.

Additional relevant information about Jennifer includes:

• Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts from Bryn Mawr College, magna cum laude, and studied for one year at Sorbonne University in Paris, France. She was awarded a Watson Foundation Fellowship following college. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and served as an Associate Editor for the California Law Review.
• She speaks and writes French fluently and maintains a cross-border practice with the firm's Paris office.
• Prior to joining the firm, she served as law clerk for the Honorable Mary M. Schroeder in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
• Jennifer speaks frequently on corporate and securities topics.
• She is a founding director and the current Chair of the Board of the Los Angeles Ballet.
• Jennifer is the co-author of "Fashion Law and Business: Brands & Retailers".

Capabilities

• Investment Funds
• Capital Markets
• Consumer and Retail
• ESG: Risk, Litigation, and Reporting
• Emerging Companies / Venture Capital
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Private Equity

Credentials

Education:

• University of California, Berkeley - 1982 Juris Doctor
• Bryn Mawr College - 1978 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• California Bar

Clerkships:

• US Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, Hon. Mary M. Schroeder, 1982 - 1983