Speaker details

Biography

Kevin Schmidt is a corporate partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group, Co-Chair of the firm's Private Equity Group and a member of the Special Situations team. He has worked extensively on acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and strategic investments, including cross-border transactions for both private equity and corporate clients. Mr. Schmidt is recognized as a leading lawyer for mergers and acquisitions in the private equity sector by Chambers USA, where he has drawn praise for his “candid feedback and negotiating prowess” and as “a great negotiator” who is “pragmatic” and gets “right to the point.” Sources say he provides “great client service,” and commend his “solid business understanding of commercial issues” and “great ability to fundamentally grasp the legal issues around a transaction.” He is also recommended for private equity buyouts by Chambers Global, where clients have said he “thinks like a business person and manages risk with sound commercial judgment,” and is viewed as “an incredible negotiator who, more often than not, wins the argument.” Mr. Schmidt is recognized as a Leading Lawyer by The Legal 500 US, which has noted that he “stands out in his peer group” for his “responsive, commercially minded approach” and as someone “clients look to for leadership.” He is ranked as a leading M&A lawyer by IFLR1000 and was recognized by The AmLaw Daily for his leading role in advising Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in its $12 billion acquisition of GE Capital’s sponsor lending business, including Antares Capital, the leading lender to middle market private equity sponsors in the United States. Mr. Schmidt has spoken at a variety of seminars regarding recurring M&A issues and is a regular speaker at the International Bar Association’s Annual M&A Conference in New York. He is a contributing author of The Private Equity Primer: The Best of the Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report and the Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report. He is also the author of various articles on M&A issues in M&A Lawyer, The Deal and The Corporate Governance Advisor. Mr. Schmidt has also been a regular contributor to programs at the Practicing Law Institute. Mr. Schmidt joined Debevoise in 1994 and became a partner in 2002. He received his J.D. with high honors from Rutgers School of Law in 1994, where he was Order of the Coif, and his B.A. summa cum laude from Jersey City State College in 1989.