Dentons, the global law firm, today added Jennifer R. Williams as a partner in the firm’s Corporate group. Williams joins as one of the leaders of a new program focused on providing a comprehensive package of legal services to private equity portfolio companies and similar companies. This new and unique service is designed to provide cost savings as well as risk management tools for clients at both the portfolio company and private equity firm levels. Although the service is primarily focused on private equity clients, it has applications in other businesses.
The new program will draw upon the talents of Dentons lawyers across multiple substantive areas, including Corporate, Litigation, Benefits and ERISA, and Employment and Labor. The practice will also tap into Dentons deep worldwide network to provide this service on a global basis.
Williams joins Dentons from Unisource Worldwide, Inc., a $4.1 billion Bain Capital-owned company. During her tenure at Unisource, Williams served in multiple capacities, most recently as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Executive Vice President of Human Resources. In this role, Williams successfully reorganized and led a team of approximately 35 employees in the Legal and Human Resources areas and directed all merger and acquisition activities, including supervising outside counsel in a 2014 Reverse Morris Trust transaction to form a $9.5 billion company.
“We are very pleased to welcome Jenny to Dentons and are enthusiastic about her role in launching our new program for private equity firms,” said Mike McNamara, Dentons’ US managing partner. “Jenny’s perspective and understanding of the unique needs of private equity portfolio companies at all different points in their business cycle will be a valuable resource for our clients.”
Prior to her legal management role, Williams was a lawyer in private practice in Atlanta for nearly ten years, focusing on litigation and labor and employment matters. Earlier in her career she conducted research on international environmental treaties in Geneva Switzerland for the United Nations Institute of Training and Research.
Williams earned her JD from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, where she was executive articles editor of Washington University Law Quarterly and served as a judicial intern for Judge Jean C. Hamilton in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Williams earned her BS, with honors, from the University of Tennessee.
