Paul, Weiss Adds M&A Partner in New York

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP announced today that Chelsea N. Darnell has joined the firm as a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice in the Corporate Department, resident in New York. Darnell advises public and private companies and private equity firms on M&A, corporate governance matters and activism defense issues.

“We are pleased to welcome Chelsea, who has worked with leading public and private companies on some of their most high-profile transactions, to our partnership,” said Paul, Weiss Chairman Brad S. Karp.

“Chelsea is a superstar young public company M&A partner,” said Scott A. Barshay, chair of the Paul, Weiss Corporate Department. “I have had the pleasure of working opposite Chelsea many times over the past few years, and I’m very happy we’ll be working together in the years ahead.”

Darnell has advised public companies on a range of transactions, including domestic and cross-border M&A, spin-offs and carve-outs, minority investments and securities offerings. Her recent representations include, among others, Eli Lilly in its acquisition of Dice Therapeutics; Cvent in its sale to Blackstone; Ping Identity in its sale to Thoma Bravo; Datto in its sale to Kaseya; and Accenture in multiple transactions, including its acquisition of Novetta. Darnell has also advised numerous private equity firms in their acquisitions of public companies, including Vista Equity Partners in its take-privates of Model N, Duck Creek, Knowbe4 and Citrix, and KKR in its take-privates of CIRCOR International and Chase Corporation.

Darnell was named to The Deal’s 2023 “Top Women in Dealmaking” list for M&A and currently serves as a member of Law360’s M&A Editorial Advisory Board.

Darnell graduated summa cum laude from the University of Kentucky, where she earned a B.S.B.E in Economics & Spanish and a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies, and earned her J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, where she received the Order of the Coif. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Leo E. Strine Jr. of the Delaware Court of Chancery and Delaware Supreme Court.

The Paul, Weiss Mergers & Acquisitions Practice works with leading private equity firms and many of the world’s largest, most prominent publicly traded and privately held companies, as well as financial advisors and other financial institutions and investors, on the full range of business-critical transactions.