Dennis J. Friedman is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He has led Gibson Dunn’s mergers and acquisitions practice for many years. He has also served on Gibson Dunn’s Executive Committee and its International Management Committee. He is a widely recognized corporate lawyer with extensive experience in the mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. In addition to his 40-plus year legal career, Mr. Friedman was an investment banker at several major Wall Street firms, where he was a senior mergers and acquisitions banker and also the head of a merchant banking group.
Mr. Friedman is consistently regarded as one of the top M&A lawyers in New York and globally. Mr. Friedman has been ranked as a leading M&A lawyer by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Legal 500 United States edition, The Best Lawyers in America®, The International Who’s Who of Merger & Acquisition Lawyers, Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Merger & Acquisition Lawyers, U.S. News Best Lawyers, New York Magazine’s Best Lawyers in New York, American Lawyer Media, Guide to the World’s Leading Banking Finance and Transactional Lawyers, IFLR1000’s Leading Lawyers and has been named a Law360 MVP for Mergers and Acquisitions. He was also named as one of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America and was named among the Lawdragon 2023 Hall of Fame Honorees. Mr. Friedman is the recipient of the annual M&A Advisor Leadership Award in recognition of his accomplishments in cross border M&A legal service. He was also named to BTI’s Client Service All-Starts List for delivering “incomparable levels of client service excellence.” In addition, Mr. Friedman was ranked as a leading Corporate Governance attorney by Who’s Who Legal and was also named by the National Association of Corporate Directors to the NACD Directorship 100 list as one of the most influential people in the boardroom community. Chambers notes that Mr. Friedman has “a very strong knowledge base that comes with having 40 years of experience” and “the advantage that he's been a banker as well as a lawyer, so he can see everything from that perspective and anticipate additional problems that might arise.”
Mr. Friedman represents both domestic and foreign entities, boards of directors, special board committees and investment banks in many of the world’s largest mergers and acquisitions, cross-border transactions and unsolicited takeover offers. He also represents private investors in their mergers and acquisitions activity. Mr. Friedman advises clients in connection with board governance issues, conflicts of interest, restructurings and recapitalizations.
Mr. Friedman has been a frequent speaker at seminars in the United States and abroad on issues relating to corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions. He also has co-authored numerous publications on SEC rules and Delaware corporate law issues. He has been a member of the Board of Advisors of the Institute for Law and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Friedman earned his Juris Doctor in 1969 from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as Articles Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Finance, in 1966.
Capabilities
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits
- Financial Institutions
- Life Sciences
- Media, Entertainment, and Technology
- Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)
- Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance
- Shareholder Activism
- Technology Transactions
Credentials
Education:
- Georgetown University - 1969 Juris Doctor
- University of Pennsylvania - 1966 Bachelor of Science
Admissions:
- New York Bar