Jay’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and governance, and private equity.

Jay is managing partner of the firm’s Richmond office and former head of the firm’s corporate team.

For 30 years, Jay has represented a diverse group of public and private companies as well as private equity firms. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate governance and private equity. Jay has extensive experience representing public companies in connection with M&A transactions, financings and joint ventures. On the private equity side, he regularly represents private equity firms in acquisitions and investment transactions, and represents portfolio companies in financings, acquisitions and exit transactions through a sale or IPO. He represents clients in a broad range of industries, including consumer products, financial institutions, energy, software, health care, chemicals and manufacturing.

Jay has been recognized as a leading business lawyer by publications such as Chambers, The Best Lawyers in America and Virginia Super Lawyers.

Relevant Experience

• Representation of a major hedge fund in the acquisition of a mortgage company.
• Representation of a private-equity sponsored consumer products company in a series of acquisitions and the ultimate sale of the company to another private equity firm.
• Representation of a joint venture owned by two private equity firms and a strategic investor in connection with the acquisition of multiple natural and organic food companies.
• Sale of a global division of a packaging and paper products company to a private equity firm.
• Sale of a major corporate division of a chemical company to a strategic buyer.
• Represented a publicly-held software company in connection with its two-step acquisition by a UK entity.

• Represented the Independent Committee of the Board of Directors of a publicly-held company in connection with a “going-private” transaction.
• Represented a shelf-chartered financial institution in the $500 million private placement of common stock to major hedge funds with the proceeds directed to the purchase of failed and non-failed financial institutions.
• Multiple transactions involving the purchase and sale of asset management firms to major financial institutions.
• Sale of a privately-owned minerals company with the oil and gas assets and the coal assets sold to two separate public companies.
• Representation of Appalachia-based coal company for over 10 years in connection with multiple acquisitions and related financings.
• Represented a privately held life sciences company in its merger with a public company, with the surviving entity being a public company; a related PIPE financing; and a license agreement with a foreign pharmaceutical company.

Bar Admissions

Education
JD, University of Virginia School of Law, 1983MBA, University of Virginia Darden School of Business, 1983BA, Princeton University, cum laude, 1979