Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is pleased to announce that Jennifer L. Chu, Sally Gibson, Meir D. Katz, Richard Lawton, Jim Pastore and Scott B. Selinger will become partners of the firm, effective July 1, 2015.

Jennifer L. Chu, based in the firm’s New York office, is a member of the Corporate Department and the Mergers & Acquisitions Group. Her practice focuses on advising corporations and private equity firms in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other corporate matters, with a particular focus on transactions in the insurance and healthcare industries. Ms. Chu joined the firm in 2006. She received her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School (2006), where she served as co-Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard International Law Journal. Ms. Chu received her M.A. with distinction from the University of London (2002), and her A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard College (2001). 

Sally Gibson, based in the firm’s London office, is a member of the Investment Management Group. Her practice focuses on advising sponsors of private investment funds, including buyout, real estate, mezzanine and secondaries funds. Ms. Gibson has extensive experience working with clients to navigate the regulatory issues affecting the private equity and fund management sectors. Ms. Gibson has also advised on the restructuring of English investment managers and investment advisers and the acquisition of fund management groups. Ms. Gibson received a Master of Law (first class honours) from the University of Cambridge in 2004, and a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws (first class honours) from the University of Sydney, Australia in 2001. 

Meir D. Katz, based in the firm’s New York office, is a member of the Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits Group. His practice focuses on a broad range of executive compensation and employee benefits matters in corporate transactions, including public and private mergers and acquisitions and securities offerings, and on the design, negotiation and implementation of employee agreements and equity-based incentive and other compensation programs for public and private companies, financial sponsors, management groups and individual executives. Mr. Katz received his J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2004, Order of the Coif, and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Cardozo Law Review. He earned his B.A. from Yeshiva University in 2001. 

Richard Lawton, based in the firm’s London office, is a member of the International Dispute Resolution Group. He specializes in complex litigation and has wide-ranging experience across a full spectrum of industries and jurisdictions. Mr. Lawton regularly represents clients on multibillion-pound litigation, which is often cross-border in nature. His experience includes representing clients in large-scale corporate and M&A disputes, shareholder and joint venture disputes, and professional negligence claims. He also has particular expertise in relation to litigation and investigations arising out of high-profile corporate collapses and restructurings. He has acted for and against directors, affiliate companies, financial institutions, auditors and other professional advisers involved in such collapses and restructurings. Mr. Lawton joined the firm in 2013. He was admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2005, and holds an M.A. in Law from the University of Cambridge. 

Jim Pastore, based in the firm’s New York office, is a member of the Cybersecurity & Data Privacy practice and the Intellectual Property Litigation Group. His practice focuses on privacy and cybersecurity issues. Prior to rejoining Debevoise in 2014, Mr. Pastore served for five years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. While he was with the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Pastore spent most of his time as a prosecutor with the Complex Frauds Unit and Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Section. Mr. Pastore earned his J.D., with distinction, from Stanford Law School in 2004 and received his B.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Notre Dame in 2001. 

Scott B. Selinger, based in the firm’s New York office, is a member of the Corporate Department and the Finance Group and Private Equity Group. He focuses on complex acquisition and leveraged finance transactions and has extensive experience in syndicated bank loan and high-yield transactions. Mr. Selinger regularly advises the firm’s private equity and corporate clients in connection with the financing of acquisitions and investments. Prior to joining Debevoise in 2010, Mr. Selinger was an associate at a prominent New York-based law firm. He graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School (2006), where he was a member of the Journal of Law and Policy and served on the planning board that created the Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law. Mr. Selinger served as a Recent Graduate Trustee on the Brooklyn Law School Board of Trustees from 2010 to 2011. He received a B.A. from Brandeis University (2003). 

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a premier law firm with market-leading practices, a global perspective and strong New York roots. The firm’s commercially savvy lawyers regularly lead strategic transactions and complex disputes for world-class clients.