Patrick Gadson
The Grace Building
1114 Avenue of the Americas
32nd Floor
New York, New York 10036
Patrick’s principal areas of practice are private equity, mergers and acquisitions and shareholder activism. Patrick is Co-Head of V&E’s Shareholder Activism practice, which advises public companies in competitive proxy solicitations, strategic investor relations, and corporate governance. He also counsels senior management, boards of directors, investment managers and both private equity and strategic investors in a wide variety of complex business transactions, corporate governance matters, strategic investor relations and other special situations. His experience includes advising clients in connection with shareholder activism related investments, hostile takeovers, public and private M&A transactions, strategic minority investments and corporate capital investments. Prior to joining Vinson & Elkins, Patrick practiced law at a leading shareholder activism law firm and a preeminent corporate law firm in New York City.
Patrick is a member of the firm’s Diversity Executive Committee.
Experience Highlights
Synalloy in the defense of the proxy fight by Privet Fund Management and UPG LLC
Comscore, Inc. in defense of the shareholder activism campaign of Starboard Value LP
Owens Realty Mortgage in its proxy contest defense against Hovde Capital Advisors and Opal Advisors
Continental Grain in its activism campaign with D.E. Shaw against Bunge
Nutrisystem, Inc. in defense of the shareholder activism campaign of Legion Partners Asset Management, LLC
Sandridge Energy in its proxy contest defense against Carl Icahn and in the defense of the unsolicited bid of Midstates Petroleum
Verisk Analytics, Inc. in shareholder activism preparation and defense with respect to strategic relations with D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P.
Evolent Health in defense of the shareholder activism campaign of Engaged Capital
Credentials
- Columbia Law School, J.D., 2011
- Cornell University, B.S., Industrial and Labor Relations, 2006
- Chambers USA, Corporate/M&A: Takeover Defense (New York), 2021–2024; “Up and Coming” in Corporate/M&A: Takeover Defense (New York), 2021 and 2022
- The Legal 500 U.S., M&A/Corporate & Commercial: Shareholder Activism: Advice to Boards, 2020–2024; “Next Generation Partner” in M&A/Corporate & Commercial: Shareholder Activism: Advice to Boards, 2021–2023
- National Black Lawyers Top 100 Black Lawyers, 2022
- Selected to the 500 Leading Dealmakers in America, Lawdragon, 2021, 2022, and 2024
- Selected to the New York Rising Stars list, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2022
- New York
- InsightSeptember 17, 2024
Published by CorpGov Sept 12, 2024
- Rankings & AwardsJune 12, 2024
- Rankings & AwardsJune 6, 2024
- InsightMay 8, 2024
Published by Boardroom Governance
- InsightFebruary 1, 2024
Published by CorpGov
- Event RecapJanuary 31, 2024
- Event RecapNovember 16, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsOctober 26, 2023
- InsightJuly 14, 2023
V&E+ Views
- InsightJune 27, 2023
Published by Insightia
- Rankings & AwardsJune 12, 2023
- Event RecapJune 8, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsJune 1, 2023
- Deals & CasesMay 11, 2023
- InsightApril 25, 2023
Published by CorpGov.com
- Event RecapFebruary 23, 2023
- InsightFebruary 7, 2023
Published by Nasdaq TradeTalks
- InsightJanuary 5, 2023
Published by CorpGov.com December 20, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsDecember 15, 2022
- Event RecapNovember 17, 2022
- Event RecapOctober 24, 2022
- Event RecapOctober 20, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsOctober 3, 2022
- InsightSeptember 16, 2022
Published by CorpGov
- September 13, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsAugust 3, 2022
- Deals & CasesJune 28, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsJune 16, 2022
- Event RecapJune 15, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsJune 1, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsMay 10, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsMay 3, 2022
- Press ReleaseMarch 30, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsMarch 29, 2022
- FactSet Awards Vinson & Elkins' Shareholder Activism Practice #1 Ranking for Company Defense in 2021Rankings & AwardsJanuary 24, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsJanuary 4, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsDecember 15, 2021
- InsightNovember 24, 2021
V&E SEC Proxy Update
- InsightSeptember 8, 2021
Published by BDO in the Boardroom
- Rankings & AwardsMarch 15, 2021
- Rankings & AwardsJanuary 19, 2021
- Rankings & AwardsDecember 21, 2020
- Rankings & AwardsAugust 17, 2020
- InsightAugust 4, 2020
V&E SEC Update
- Rankings & AwardsJanuary 21, 2020
- InsightMay 7, 2019
- InsightJuly 26, 2018
- “Fall Trends in Shareholder Activism: Vinson & Elkins Partner Patrick Gadson, Live from NYSE,” CorpGov and Yahoo! Finance, September 19, 2024 (guest)
- “Why Starbucks isn’t ‘in the clear’ after activist investor push,” Yahoo! Finance, August 16, 2024 (guest)
- “Best & Worst Things a Company Can Do When Approached by an Activist,” 13D Monitor Active Passive Investor Summit, April 16, 2019 (panelist)
- “What to Do When the Barbarians Are At Your Gate: A Shareholder Activism Bootcamp,” National Investor Relations Institute Annual Conference, June 10, 2018 (speaker)
- “Condensed Activism Bootcamp,” Corporate Governance Ohio Chapter Meeting, October 26, 2017 (speaker)