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 chair of the Board of Advisors of the NYU Law Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance. 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 is co-chair of the Tulane Corporate Law Institute, teaches Mergers & Acquisitions at New York University School of Law and previously co-taught a joint law and business short course on mergers and acquisitions at Vanderbilt University Law School and Owen School of Management with former Delaware Chief Justice Leo Strine, who is now of counsel at the Firm.
In addition to being chosen by The American Lawyer as one of the 45 highest performing members of the private bar under the age of 45, The American Lawyer has selected him as a Dealmaker of the Year three times; he has been named by the NACD Directorship as one of the 100 most influential players in corporate governance numerous times; he has been named Lawyer of the Year by the Global M&A Network, Who’s Who Legal’s Mergers and Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year, Who’s Who Legal’s Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year and Who’s Who Legal’s Corporate Governance and M&A Lawyer of the Year multiple times. Mr. Katz was elected by The American College of Governance Counsel as an Inaugural Class Fellow and is a member of the American Law Institute, where he is an adviser on the Restatement of the Law, Corporate Governance Project.
Mr. Katz serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at New York University (Executive Committee) and at New York University School of Law. He also regularly writes a column on corporate governance for the New York Law Journal with his colleague Laura McIntosh.
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 ABA Federal Securities Laws Committee, the New York State Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Society for Corporate Governance and the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Mr. Katz is a graduate of Brandeis University and New York University School of Law
Select Publications
- Corporate Governance Update: Anticipating Activist Attacks,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, April 23, 2023.
- Corporate Governance Update: ESG in 2023; Politics and Polemics,
in New York Law Journal, January 25, 2023 and Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, February 6, 2023.
- Cross-Border M&A - 2023 Checklist for Successful Acquisitions in the United States,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, January 7, 2023.
- Delaware and Caremark: An Update,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, August 9, 2022.
- Delaware Approves Permitting Exculpation of Officers from Personal Liability in Corporate Charters,
in Harvard Law School’s Forum on Corporate Governance, August 4, 2022 and Columbia Law School’s Blog on Corporations and Capital Markets, August 9, 2022.
- Corporate Governance Update: Regulatory Instability for Proxy Advisory Firms,
in New York Law Journal, July 27, 2022 and Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, July 29, 2022.
- 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.