Schulte Roth & Zabel (“Schulte” or “the firm”) is proud to announce its largest partner class in firm history, marking a significant milestone in the firm’s growth and expansion. Effective January 1, 2025, 12 exceptional lawyers — Ari Aranda, Max Garfield, Brandon Gold, David Lifshitz, Sean Locklear, Amy MacDonagh, Andrew Mazzarella, Frank Olander, Minji Reem, Lauren Troeller, Hannah Wells and Saarah Woodby — joined the firm’s partnership, representing a diverse array of talent across Schulte’s New York and London offices.

In addition, Schulte has promoted five accomplished lawyers to special counsel: Chris Hamilton, Daniel Neer, Sasha O’Leary, George Rowe and Abraham Schwartz. While the majority are based in the New York office, O’Leary will continue to serve clients from the London office.

This cohort of lawyers represent seven key practice areas, further solidifying Schulte’s standing as a global leader in legal and the private capital space.

“The firm achieved exceptional growth this year, fueled by a high level of business activity and new market opportunities that bolstered our presence and reaffirmed our position in the financial sector,” said Marc Elovitz, co-managing partner. “We carry this momentum into 2025, marked by promotions that underscore the depth and breadth of our talent and showcases the unique and focused synergy across Schulte’s practice groups.”

David Efron, co-managing partner, added, “At Schulte, collaboration is the cornerstone of our success. This culture not only drives exceptional outcomes for our clients, but also fosters an environment where our lawyers can thrive. These promotions are a testament to that ethos and our ability to anticipate and adapt to the changing needs of our clients.”

Partners

Ari Z. Aranda represents lenders and borrowers in connection with commercial mortgage and mezzanine financings, acquisitions and dispositions of commercial properties, negotiation of joint venture agreements, and workouts and restructurings.

Max Garfield primarily represents investment fund clients on all aspects of employment law issues. His work includes advising on onboarding and offboarding personnel, counseling on day-to-day employment issues, drafting and negotiating employment- and compensation-related agreements, and navigating complex disputes with employees, partners and other personnel.   

Brandon S. Gold advises investors on shareholder activism, proxy fights, corporate governance, M&A, stakeholder engagement and securities law matters.  He has represented virtually every prominent activist investor and played a leading role in many of the highest profile and groundbreaking activist campaigns in the past decade. He earned his JD from Harvard Law School, where he was a fellow in Harvard’s Program on Corporate Governance.

David Lifshitz counsels private investment fund managers with respect to a broad range of fund formation and regulatory and compliance matters.

Sean D. Locklear represents lenders, borrowers, underwriters, issuers and investors on asset-backed lending, securitization and litigation finance transactions. In addition, Sean regularly advises clients on swaps, repos and other derivative products, as well as regulatory developments impacting the derivatives market. 

Amy MacDonagh focuses on the representation of private funds and investment advisers in connection with their structuring, formation and ongoing operational needs and on regulatory and compliance matters.

Andrew M. Mazzarella represents private funds, including open-ended funds, closed-ended funds and hybrid funds, and investment advisers in connection with their structuring, formation and ongoing operational needs and on regulatory and compliance matters.

Frank W. Olander handles complex commercial litigation, particularly in the areas of shareholder activist litigation, M&A litigation, and corporate control and corporate governance disputes. He also represents public and private companies and financial services industry clients in a wide range of commercial disputes involving claims for breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and fraudulent transfer.

Minji Reem focuses on complex commercial litigation, shareholder activist litigation, securities litigation and internal investigations. She has represented public and private companies, individuals and financial services industry clients, including investment managers and banks, in various state and federal courts and arbitration forums, from commencement through trials and appeals.

Lauren M. Troeller advises middle market private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, as well as direct lenders and privately owned businesses, in complex business transactions (including leveraged buyouts, divestitures, mergers, carve-outs, distressed acquisitions, minority investments, take privates and joint ventures).

Hannah J. Wells focuses on the tax aspects of private investment funds, including hedge funds, private equity funds, hybrid funds and credit funds, as well as advising investment managers in connection with their structuring, formation and ongoing operations.

Saarah Woodby represents venture funds, crossover funds, asset managers and other institutional investors in their debt and equity investments into technology-focused emerging companies, whose investments range from seed stage to growth equity.

Special Counsel

Chris Hamilton represents institutional and entrepreneurial investment managers, financial services firms and private investment funds in all aspects of their business, including advising managers of hedge, private equity and hybrid funds in the formation and management of investment funds.

Daniel R. Neer represents private funds, including open-ended funds, closed-ended funds and hybrid funds, and investment advisers in connection with their structuring, formation and ongoing operational needs, and on regulatory and compliance matters. He also has experience advising investment advisers on structuring and negotiating seed and strategic investments and relationships.

Sasha O’Leary focuses on advising alternative investment funds and their managers. She also represents established and emerging European, US and Asian managers in connection with the establishment, restructuring, management and ongoing operational, transactional and legal needs of private funds across a range of strategies.

George H. Rowe advises on complex commercial litigation, securities litigation and government enforcement matters, including enforcement proceedings before the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as litigation finance matters.

Abraham Schwartz advises clients on shareholder activism matters, proxy contests, ESG engagement, M&A, corporate governance and other related matters. He represents and provides strategic advice to investors of all stripes on matters of shareholder engagement and has worked on some of the most significant campaigns in the activist space, including the largest proxy fight in history.

Schulte Roth & Zabel represented AS Birch Grove LP (“Birch Grove”), a diversified alternative credit fund manager, in a definitive agreement to be acquired by Third Point LLC (“Third Point”), an alternative investment manager with $12 billion in assets under management. Following the completion of the transaction, expected in Q1 2025, Birch Grove will become a subsidiary of Third Point, and American Securities will no longer hold an ownership interest in the firm.

Birch Grove has approximately $8 billion of assets under management in strategies including collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), opportunistic private credit solutions, multi-strategy credit, senior loans and high-yield bonds. The move to join the Third Point platform will enable Birch Grove to leverage the firm’s success in credit market investments and its team of experienced investment professionals to drive the growth of Birch Grove’s funds.

Schulte’s M&A team was led by Ben Kozinn, co-chair of the M&A Group, with special counsel Ross Karlik and associates Crystal Mor Henwood, Samuel Weiss and Conrad Zhong. Partners Philippe Benedict (Tax), Mike Didiuk (IM), Alexander Kim (IP), Ian Levin (Employment), David Nissenbaum (IM) and Craig Stein (Finance), along with special counsel Adam Gartner (Employment) and Scott Kareff (IP), and associates Jacob Gach (Tax) and Rachel Siegel (IM), and law clerk Julianna Dietz (IM) assisted in the deal.