Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP has appointed Barbara Becker as the firm’s next Chair and Managing Partner. Barbara is a corporate partner in the firm’s New York office and will assume her new role from May 01, 2021. Barbara will become the first woman to lead the firm since its formation in 1890. She will succeed Ken Doran, who has been serving as Gibson Dunn’s Chairman and Managing Partner since 2002.
Barbara has served as Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group, which comprises 400 lawyers globally. She also serves as Chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She is also Chair of the New York City Bar’s Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Control Contests Committee. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the New York University School of Law, where she is also an adjunct professor. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law.
Her practice focuses on business and legal issues including domestic and cross-border mergers & acquisitions, spin-offs, joint ventures, and general corporate matters. Her clients include corporations, investment banks, hedge funds, investors, and the board of directors and special committees of public companies. She specializes in advising clients from the consumer/retail, technology, healthcare, and industrial industries.
On being appointed the first woman Chair and Managing Director of Gibson Dunn, Barbara said, “I am grateful and honored by the trust my partners have placed in me. I am looking forward to tackling these new challenges head on. My priorities will be continuing Gibson Dunn’s track record of success through maintaining the growth of our global platform and safeguarding our culture of teamwork and collegiality. It is our culture that distinguishes us and allows us to work seamlessly and collaboratively across offices and practices to best serve our clients.”
Ken Doran, Gibson Dunn’s current Chair and Managing Partner, said, “As the first woman to lead the firm, Barbara’s election is a momentous point in our firm’s history. She is absolutely the right person to succeed me, and she will be an exemplary leader of Gibson Dunn. Barbara has a deep and abiding commitment to our culture, which is based on teamwork, collegiality, collaboration and mutual respect. She is highly regarded and respected by her fellow partners, not only because she built an extremely successful M&A practice, but also because of her unqualified commitment to diversity and inclusion.”