Joseph S. Payne is Counsel in the Corporate Department of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. He represents issuers financial institutions and other market participants in a broad array of public and private capital markets transactions, including initial public offerings and other equity offerings, investment-grade, high-yield and convertible debt financings, liability management transactions and SPAC deals. He has advised on transactions in a wide variety of industries, including the biotech, consumer goods, financial services, industrials, natural resources, pharmaceuticals, TMT, transportation and utilities sectors. He also advises U.S. public companies on general corporate, securities-law and governance matters.

He received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar, earned the Parker School Recognition of Achievement in International and Comparative Law and served as Public Affairs Editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. He received his A.B. from Harvard University. Prior to attending law school, Joe served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy and received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.

Since joining Wachtell Lipton in 2025, Joe has advised the Firm’s clients on a number of transformative capital markets and corporate transactions, including:

• Salesforce in connection with its $25 billion investment-grade bond offering and concurrent $25 billion accelerated stock repurchase (ASR) program, one of the largest  bond financings of all time and the largest ASR of all time
• Abbot Laboratories in connection with the financing aspects of its $23 billion acquisition of Exact Sciences
• Global Payments in the financing aspects of its $5 billion acquisition of Worldpay and subsequent bond financings
• Pinterest in connection with its $1 billion investment by Elliot and concurrent entry into a $1 billion ASR program
• Danone in connection with the disposition of 100% of its stake in Lifeway Foods in an SEC-registered secondary transaction
• 3M in connection with a partial sale of its stake in Solventum in a SEC-registered secondary transaction
• Teck Resources in in its proposed merger of equals with Anglo American
• Jetro Restaurant Depot in connection with its proposed acquisition by Sysco Corporation