David M. Adlerstein is counsel in the Corporate Department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, capital-raising transactions, corporate governance, and other corporate and securities law matters, with a focus on financial institutions and technology transactions. Mr. Adlerstein has worked on a broad array of public and private company acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures (including numerous credit card programs), securities offerings and corporate governance matters. He is a member of the Firm’s Crypto Team and frequently writes and speaks about blockchain technology and digital assets. He also provides counsel to several nonprofit organizations on a pro bono basis.

Born in Cambridge, England, Mr. Adlerstein received a B.A. cum laude in Philosophy and History from Brandeis University in 1994 and a M.A. in European Politics from Lund University in Lund, Sweden in 1999. He received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2002, where he was a notes editor of the Columbia Law Review and a three-time Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

Prior to joining Wachtell Lipton as a corporate associate in 2005, Mr. Adlerstein was an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Before beginning his legal career, Mr. Adlerstein served as a sergeant in the Paratroopers Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces.

Mr. Adlerstein is a member of The Economic Club of New York and The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and is Chair of the Financial Services Technology Joint Subcommittee of the ABA Business Law Section’s Commercial Finance Committee and Private Equity & Venture Capital Committee. He serves on the boards of the American Friends of Rambam Medical Center and of The MirYam Institute, and is a multi-year mentor in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Success in Law School Mentoring Program.