Private Equity Partner Kate Withers Joins Ropes & Gray’s 500-Lawyer New York Office

Kate Withers today joined Ropes & Gray’s 500-lawyer New York office as a partner in the firm’s global private equity practice. Kate expands Ropes & Gray’s renowned team, which is consistently recognized for having one of the world’s leading private equity groups by Chambers, MergerMarket, Bloomberg and The Deal. 

Ropes & Gray’s private equity practice is currently ranked top-three in recent league tables for handling both a high volume and high aggregate dollar value of complex private equity deals in 2021. The firm’s lawyers routinely advise on a broad range of middle-market and large cap private equity transactions that span technology, health care, life sciences, and other key industries. 

Kate, a private equity and technology M&A lawyer, complements Ropes & Gray’s leading team. She has built a stellar reputation for providing sophisticated advice to private equity and strategic investors on a range of complex, technology-focused transactions in the life sciences, software, media, gaming, internet and financial services industries. Her recent work includes advising on bespoke, technology-focused joint ventures, cross-border M&A transactions, carveouts, restructurings and structured investments in innovative technology businesses. She has also represented private equity investors in numerous life sciences transactions. 

“Kate is a terrific addition to the world’s leading private equity practice. She arrives at a time when Ropes & Gray is, for another consecutive year, at the top of the private equity leaderboard, ranked as one of the best firms for complex PE work both by deal volume and deal value,” said David Blittner, partner and chair of the firm’s private equity practice. “She’s a world-class lawyer for a world-class client base.” 

“What differentiates Ropes & Gray from other elite, global private equity firms is the quality and depth of the advice our lawyers provide. Kate brings that skillset,” said managing partner David Djaha. “A theme of collaboration and connectivity links Kate’s work and that of our lawyers: Ropes & Gray deal lawyers understand a client’s business objectives, and they leverage deep and specialized industry knowledge from within the firm to negotiate great terms and maximize deal values, across investment strategies, and around the globe. Kate will fit right in.”  

Ropes & Gray’s 400-lawyer private equity transactions and private funds teams have received the industry’s top accolades over many decades. Law360 has named Ropes & Gray “Private Equity Group of the Year” every year for the last five years, and has also garnered Law360’s “Fund Formation Group of the Year” award. The firm has also been ranked top three on The American Lawyer’s prestigious “A-list” for five consecutive years, and number two on the Financial Times “Innovative Lawyers” list for its creative and groundbreaking deal work. 

With more than 500 lawyers in New York, Ropes & Gray is one of the 20 largest law firms in the city. Kate’s arrival continues Ropes & Gray’s commitment to expand an established team of world-class business advisers in Manhattan. In New York, the firm has recently added private equity partners Scott Abramowitz and Carolyn Vardi, private credit and capital solutions partners Sam Badawi and Leonard Klingbaum, finance partner Andrea Hwang, asset management partner Bryan Hunkele and business restructuring partners Ryan Dahl and Cristine Pirro Schwarzman.