Gibson Dunn‘s global litigation co-chair Bill Savitt has closed a high-profile mandate for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with the role coming months after Savitt joined from Wachtell in July.
Savitt advised Zuckerberg alongside Gibson Dunn M&A co-head Sebastian Fain, and his former Wachtell litigation colleagues Ryan McLeod and Anitha Reddy, with the team advising on negotiations with the special committee of Meta and the creation of a new class of publicly listed stock. Orange County IP partner Colin Davies also advised on litigation aspects of the mandate, which comes amid the proposed introduction of a state tax on billionaires in California.
The wider Gibson team included New York-based executive compensation partner Kate Napalkova, capital markets partner Andrew Fabens and regulatory partner Julia Lapitskaya. Rachel Kleinberg advised on tax aspects from the Palo Alto office.
The mandate follows Savitt’s shock exit from the prestigious Wall Street outfit this summer, alongside a five-partner litigation team. He had been at Wachtell since 2000, most recently serving as co-chair of both its executive committee and litigation department.
Savitt is no stranger to tech barons as this year he also secured a victory for Wachtell client Sam Altman and OpenAI in a $150bn lawsuit filed by Tesla founder Elon Musk.
Gibson Dunn, which also counts Musk as a client, is a regular advisor to Meta, defending Zuckerberg’s social media company in various lawsuits.
