Five Ropes & Gray Attorneys Named Law360 Rising Stars

Law360 has named five Ropes & Gray attorneys to its 2021 “Rising Stars” list: mergers & acquisitions partner Sarah Young (New York), capital markets partner Christopher Capuzzi (New York), business restructuring partner Andrew Devore (New York/Boston), litigation & enforcement partner Andrew O’Connor (Boston), and data, privacy & cybersecurity associate Fran Faircloth (Washington D.C.).

Sarah Young, mergers & acquisitions partner, co-led the team that advised Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc., parent company of Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins, in its $11.3 billion sale to Inspire Brands Inc. She also guided arts and crafts retailer The Michaels Companies in its sale to Apollo Global Management, a transaction valued at approximately $5 billion, and, in a separate deal, Veeam Software in its acquisition by Insight Partners, valued at about $5 billion.

Capital markets partner Christopher Capuzzi, one of the busiest advisors to SPAC issuers and their sponsor teams, underwriters and investors, guiding underwriters in more than 50 IPOs in a two-year period, including on the largest SPAC IPO to-date, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings. Chris was integral in establishing Ropes & Gray as one of the top-three biggest SPAC law firms according to the SPAC Research Legal Advisor League Tables for 2020 and 2021.

Andrew Devore, who focuses on bankruptcy litigation in the firm’s business restructuring practice, was recognized for his work developing far-reaching appellate and trial precedent in several recent high-profile cases, such as In re Nine West LBO Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation and In re Tribune Company Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation in defending LBO avoidance actions against public shareholders, and In re MPM Silicones LLC in establishing cramdown interest rates for creditors in chapter 11 plans.

Litigation & enforcement partner Andrew O’Connor was selected for his work on behalf of health care and life sciences clients faced with government investigations and civil litigation. Notably, Andrew represented a life sciences company in more than 3,000 cases across the United States, including a federal multidistrict litigation, state court actions, and government investigations, leading to a settlement with 50 state and territory Attorneys General.

Fran Faircloth, a member of the firm’s data, privacy and cybersecurity practice, represents the former CEO of SolarWinds following a major cyberattack by a group backed by a foreign government that penetrated thousands of organizations globally including multiple parts of the U.S. government. In 2020, Fran counseled private equity firm Advent International on privacy and cybersecurity issues related to its initial and renegotiated acquisition of Forescout Technologies and, separately, represented online retailed Bombas in class action litigation and investigations by U.S. state attorneys general and data protection authorities related to a data breach on the company’s online checkout portal.