Stewart McDowell

Stewart L. McDowell is a partner in the San Francisco and New York offices of Gibson Dunn where she is Co-Chair of the firm’s Capital Markets Practice Group.

Stewart represents companies, investors and underwriters in a variety of complex capital markets transactions, including IPOs, convertible and non-convertible debt and preferred equity offerings, spin-offs, PIPEs and liability management transactions. She also represents companies in connection with U.S. and cross-border M&A and strategic investments, SEC reporting, corporate governance and general corporate matters.

Awards and Accolades:

• Chambers USA, “Capital Markets: Debt & Equity” (2012 – 2025)
• Best Lawyers®, "Lawyer of the Year: Corporate Law, San Francisco" (2019, 2026), “Lawyer of the Year: Banking and Finance Law, San Francisco” (2021)
• Expert Guides, “Women in Business Law” (2021 - 2022)
• Expert Guides, “Banking, Finance and Transactional Guide” (2020)

Representative Clients and Transactions:

• Advised issuers or underwriters in the IPOs of issuers including Cricut, Parson Corporation, Zevia PBC, Viant, Restoration Hardware, and Magnite
• Advised the Public Investment Fund on multiple investments in Lucid Group, including convertible preferred stock, common stock and prepaid forward transactions
• Advised issuers such as Coget Bioscience, Magnite, and Advanced Energy Industries, Inc., Welltower Inc., and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in the issuance of convertible senior notes
• Wells Fargo Securities Advised in over $100 billion of offerings by Wells Fargo & Company and Wells Fargo Bank
• Advised Intuit Inc. in the issuance of $4.0 billion of Senior Notes
• Advised Elliott Management in its convertible preferred stock investments in Western Digital and Travelport
• Advised Glassdoor, Inc. in its sale to Recruit Holdings, Ltd.
• Advised Uber Technologies, Inc. in the sale of its South East Asia business to Grab Taxi
• Advised HTC Corporation in its business cooperation arrangements involving sale of a portion of HTC’s virtual reality business and smart phone business to Google

Stewart received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995 and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1991.

Capabilities

• Capital Markets
• Consumer Products and Retail
• ESG: Risk, Litigation, and Reporting
• Emerging Companies / Venture Capital
• Finance
• Financial Institutions
• Fintech and Digital Assets
• Media, Entertainment, and Technology
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Private Equity
• Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance

Credentials

Education:

• University of Virginia - 1995 Juris Doctor
• Princeton University - 1991 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• California Bar
• New York Bar