David A. Katz

Education
- Brandeis University, B.A. 1985, magna cum laude
- New York University School of Law, J.D. 1988, cum laude
David A. Katz
David A. Katz is a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City, an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, and co-chair of the Board of Advisors of the NYU Law Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance. Previously, he was an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School and at the Owen Graduate School of Management. Mr. Katz is a corporate attorney focusing on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, shareholder activism and complex securities transactions, has been involved in many major domestic and international merger, acquisition and buyout transactions, strategic defense assignments and proxy contests, and has been involved in a number of complex public and private offerings and corporate restructurings. He frequently counsels boards of directors and board committees on corporate governance matters and crisis management.
Mr. Katz taught Mergers and Acquisitions at New York University School of Law for over 15 years and previously co-taught a joint law and business short course on mergers and acquisitions at Vanderbilt University Law School with Delaware Chief Justice Leo Strine. He is co-chair of the Tulane Corporate Law Institute.
In 2004, he was chosen by The American Lawyer as one of the 45 highest performing members of the private bar under the age of 45; in 2005, 2012 and 2015, he was selected by The American Lawyer as a Dealmaker of the Year; in 2016, he was named by NACD Directorship as one of the 100 most influential players in corporate governance for the seventh time; in 2013 he was named Lawyer of the Year by Global M&A Network; in 2014 and each of the five prior years he was named Who’s Who Legal’s Mergers and Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year, in 2014 was also named Who’s Who Legal’s Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year and in 2015 and 2016 was named Who’s Who Legal’s Corporate Governance and M&A Lawyer of the Year; and in 2015 he was elected by The American College of Governance Counsel as an Inaugural Class Fellow.
Mr. Katz is a member of the American Bar Association, Section on Business Law, where he founded the Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions Task Force on the Dictionary of M&A Terms and a member of the Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions Subcommittee for Acquisitions of Public Companies. Mr. Katz is also a member of the Federal Securities Laws Committee, the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Mr. Katz is a member of the Society for Corporate Governance and the National Association of Corporate Directors. Mr. Katz serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at New York University and at New York University School of Law. He sits on the Board of Directors of The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and is a member of the Advisory Board at the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. He writes a bi-monthly column on corporate governance for the New York Law Journal with his colleague Laura McIntosh.
Mr. Katz is a graduate of Brandeis University and New York University School of Law.
Select Publications
- Corporate Governance Update: Solving the Board Composition Puzzle,
in New York Law Journal, May 25, 2022 and Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, May 31, 2022.
- Expanding on the SEC’s Proposal to Modernize Section 13(d) and (g) Beneficial Ownership Reporting,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, April 14, 2022.
- Corporate Governance Update: The SEC Takes Aim at the Public-Private Disclosure Gap,
in New York Law Journal, January 27, 2022 and Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 28, 2022.
- Cross-Border M&A – 2022 Checklist for Successful Acquisitions in the United States,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, January 22, 2022.
- Corporate Governance Update: Board Structure Is Key to Oversight,
in New York Law Journal, September 22, 2021 and Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, September 27, 2021.
- Corporate Governance Update: EESG Activism After ExxonMobil,
in New York Law Journal, July 21, 2021 and Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, July 23, 2021.
- Corporate Governance Update: SEC Regulation of ESG Disclosures,
in New York Law Journal, May 26, 2021, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, May 28, 2021 and Columbia Law School’s Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets, June 21, 2021.
- Corporate Governance Update: "Materiality" in America and Abroad,
in New York Law Journal, April 28, 2021 and Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, May 1, 2021.
- Corporate Governance Update: Integrating ESG Into Corporate Culture: Not Elsewhere, but Everywhere,
in New York Law Journal, March 24, 2021.
- Corporate Governance Update: Thank You, Chairman Clayton,
in New York Law Journal, January 27, 2021.
- Corporate Governance Update: Politics and Purpose in Corporate America,
in New York Law Journal, October 28, 2020.
- Proposed Rules Relating to the Reporting Threshold for Institutional Investment Managers,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, October 6, 2020.
- Corporate Governance Update: The Broadening Basis for Business Judgment,
in New York Law Journal, September 24, 2020.
- DOL Proposes Rules Clarifying When ERISA Fiduciaries Need to Vote Proxies,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, September 9, 2020.
- ISS and Glass Lewis: SEC Adopts Proxy Advisory Reform – Initial Perspectives and Implications,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, August 8, 2020.