Katherine Brody – General counsel (EMEA), Silver Lake
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, 2008-14
Silver Lake, 2014-present
Silver Lake turned me into a private equity lawyer. Before that I was working as an M&A generalist, mostly for large corporate clients, in private practice at Skadden in London. This was a decade ago, and I could see that private equity was having a moment – abundant capital to deploy, the most exciting, complex and high-profile transactions and I wanted to be a part of that. I saw going in-house with Silver Lake as an opportunity to work closely with some of the most sophisticated investors in the market on cutting-edge transactions.
Some of the most rewarding work I’ve done in-house is leading on our public M&A transactions in Europe, including the take-private transactions of Cegid and Software AG. It’s been rewarding to help the firm navigate legal regimes across various jurisdictions and meet its investment goals in complex and public environments. One of the most memorable of such transactions is the de-SPAC transaction of Global Blue – a novel transaction involving the combination of a Swiss travel-related company with a NYSE-listed SPAC during the pandemic. Challenges arose, but we successfully closed the transaction.
One of the biggest problems in the PE world is underrepresentation of women. It has been encouraging to see the industry’s recognition of this over the past few years, but more work is needed to promote inclusion at all levels. The PE industry is in a unique position to effect change not only within private equity itself, but also within its portfolio companies, making a wider impact.
A career in private equity offers a unique blend of intellectual challenge and real world, impactful contributions. As a private equity lawyer, you are at the forefront of complex transactions, engaging in strategic decision making and directly adding value in ways that can ultimately accelerate and enhance opportunity, innovation and growth for the benefit of a wide range of stakeholders.
