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New York OfficeThree Bryant Park, 1095 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, United States of America 10036-6797
Mark E. Thierfelder is co-Chair of Dechert and a member of the leadership team responsible for setting strategic priorities and driving the firm’s commitment to our work, our clients and our community. He is also a member of the Policy Committee. Mr. Thierfelder’s efforts in these areas continue to position Dechert as a leading global law firm advising financial institutions and corporations on issues critical to managing their business and their capital – from high-stakes litigation to the most complex transactions, financing and investments.
In addition to serving as co-Chair, Mr. Thierfelder continues to concentrate his practice on private equity transactions and domestic and international mergers and acquisitions throughout North America, Europe and Asia. In particular, he represents leading private equity funds and their portfolio companies in a full range of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, leveraged financings, restructurings, and reorganizations. In addition, he negotiates, structures, and executes corporate transactions on behalf of strategic buyers and sellers, and has significant experience representing banks and other institutional lenders in leveraged financings and restructurings.
Over the course of his 30 year career, Mr. Thierfelder has acted on some of the most significant transactions in the market. In fact, he advised on the second largest private equity buyout since the Financial Crisis, according to Mergermarket, and played a lead role advising on the largest private equity exit in 2019, according to Bloomberg. He also advised on two of the largest private equity-backed acquisitions globally in the past three years at the time of their announcements, according to Refinitiv, including his representation of GIC on the acquisition by a Blackstone-led consortium of a majority stake in Thomson Reuters’ Financial & Risk business at an overall valuation of US$20 billion, and his representation of SK hynix as part of a consortium on the US$18 billion acquisition of Toshiba Corporation’s NAND flash memory and solid-state drive business.
Mr. Thierfelder is consistently recognized among the top private equity lawyers worldwide. He was recently named a “Dealmaker of the Year” for 2022 by The American Lawyer for his role in one of the largest buyout transactions since the global financial crisis. In 2022 and 2020, Mr. Thierfelder was recognized by Law360 as a Private Equity MVP for his headline-making representations – he was one of just five lawyers named an MVP in this practice area for both years. In addition, Mr. Thierfelder is consistently recommended by legal directory Chambers USA, where he is listed as a leading lawyer for Corporate/M&A and Private Equity Buyouts in New York. In recent editions of Chambers, he has been described as being “super diligent, thoughtful and cognizant of the specific issues," and “a businessperson's attorney,” who “has a great sense of deal dynamics and what's really going on,” is “great at navigating delicate situations” and “gets the best deal possible.” Clients have noted he is a “go-to for high-level advice on complex M&A matters" and is "a trusted partner to help navigate not only legal issues, but also business issues that arise during every negotiation." Clients have also commended him as “a fantastic leader” and “one of the most sophisticated lawyers” who “possesses a command of the entire deal process, has great commercial awareness and a good temperament for negotiating with the other side.” Furthermore, he is also recognized as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global for Corporate M&A (International & Cross-Border) transactions in the United States. Mr. Thierfelder has also been listed as a top private equity and/or mergers and acquisitions lawyer for the past 14 years by The Legal 500 (U.S.), which singled him out as an “outstanding business lawyer,” “exceptional strategist” and a “recognized expert in private equity transactions.” The Legal 500 (U.S.) has likewise stated that he does a “stellar job” with “very good commercial sense” and that clients “value his advice and his commitment greatly.” In addition, Mr. Thierfelder is recognized by the IFLR1000, where he is one of only 17 lawyers in the United States named a Market Leader for Private Equity and one of approximately 40 lawyers named a Market Leader for M&A. Mr. Thierfelder was recently recognized by Lawdragon's 2024 edition as one of "The 500 Leading Dealmakers" in America specializing in M&A and Private Equity. He was also recently listed by MergerLinks, a financial intelligence platform for M&A professionals and practitioners, as one of the top-ranked private equity and M&A lawyers in North America in 2022 by total deal value.
He is also a frequent speaker and author on mergers and acquisitions and other corporate and securities topics. He has been featured in CNBC and Bloomberg Markets as well as published in The American Lawyer, The Deal Pipeline, New York Law Journal, Mergers & Acquisitions magazine, Investment Dealers’ Digest, Law360, Private Equity Online and other prominent media outlets. In addition, Mr. Thierfelder was selected to attend the Harvard Law School Leadership in Law Firms conference, a six-day intensive program for senior law firm leaders around the world to develop perspectives and skills necessary to be effective law firm leaders.
Mr. Thierfelder has extensive industry experience representing clients in sectors including technology, consumer products, defense, energy, infrastructure, retail, media and communications, healthcare, restaurants, life sciences, fishing, semiconductors, software, manufacturing, financial services and food and beverage. As a result, he can anticipate and address industry-unique issues that often arise in the transaction process and structure the transactions efficiently.
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- Rutgers School of Law - Newark, J.D., 1992, with Honors, Order of the Coif
- Duke University, B.A., 1986
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- New York
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- Trustee, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ
- Member, Advisory Board, The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
- Trustee, Chair of Institutional Advancement, Executive Committee, National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
- Co-Chair, Lawrenceville Parents Fund, The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
- Former Treasurer, Chair of Finance Committee, Executive Committee, Princeton Day School, Princeton, New Jersey
- Former Member, Advisory Committee, The Deal
- Former Member, Corporation Law Committee, New York City Bar Association
- Former Member, Private Equity Editorial Advisory Board, Law360