Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP announced today that Bay Area M&A lawyer Joseph Halloum has joined the firm as a partner in its Silicon Valley office. Mr. Halloum focuses on M&A involving publicly traded companies and private equity sponsors and will help meet client demand experienced since the office launched in July 2020. He joins from the M&A practice at Kirkland & Ellis, where he was a partner in the San Francisco office.

Mr. Halloum’s practice dovetails with the transactional and litigation matters that Freshfields’ Silicon Valley team is handling for Bay Area companies, including taking companies public through de-SPACs, IPOs and direct listings, defending boards of directors in litigation, and leading on governance and compensation and benefits advice. The firm’s corporate and litigation practices in Silicon Valley have been accompanied by significant demand for Freshfields’ renowned global expertise and resources in antitrust, CFIUS and foreign investment regulation, and in compliance, investigations and white-collar defense.

Notable matters handled by Mr. Halloum include the sale of Delphi Technologies to BorgWarner, the sale of Del Frisco’s to L Catterton, the sale of Smart & Final to Apollo, the Avago-Broadcom merger, The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, Dell’s acquisition of Quest, the sale of NDS to Cisco Systems, and Vista Equity Partners in numerous software, data and technology take-private transactions and other M&A activity.

Mr. Halloum has been recognized as a “Rising star” and “Trailblazer” by Super Lawyers and The Recorder, respectively, as well as “California Lawyer Attorney of the Year” by The Daily Journal for his relentless service to clients on high profile M&A projects. He is the Founder and Co-Chair of the GC Executive Fellowship Program that, in partnership with Berkeley Law, brings together Bay Area legal officers from leading technology and life sciences companies and private equity firms to brainstorm about emerging legal issues.

“We’re delighted to welcome Joseph to our Silicon Valley team,” said Sarah Solum, Freshfields’ Head of US Capital Markets and Silicon Valley Managing Partner. “He brings tremendous energy and talent to our team and joins us at the perfect time, as we expand to meet the needs of our clients.”

“Joseph has worked on some of the most complex and market-defining M&A transactions in the technology sector. He will be a terrific resource for our clients. We are thrilled to have him join us in Silicon Valley,” said John Fisher, Freshfields’ Head of US Technology and Life Sciences M&A and a co-founder of the firm’s Silicon Valley office.

“I am excited to become a part of the outstanding Freshfields team in Silicon Valley that is intensely focused on providing corporate, litigation, employee benefits, IP, governance and regulatory expertise for our clients. I look forward to working alongside the firm’s trusted bench of talent and leveraging its tremendous global platform to deliver innovative solutions and extraordinary results for which Freshfields has become known,” said Mr. Halloum.

Mr. Halloum earned his J.D. from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and his B.S. from University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. He founded and oversees the Emma and Joseph H. Halloum Business Competition and Negotiation Competition at the Haas School of Business and Berkeley Law.