Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie announced today that veteran private equity partner Eric Schwartzman has joined the Firm in its North America Transactional and Global Private Equity Practice Groups. He will serve as Head of Private Equity in California.
With more than 25 years of experience, Eric guides private equity sponsors, their portfolio companies, and public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, recapitalizations, take-privates, carve-outs, restructurings, and joint ventures. His practice spans a range of industries, including technology and its many subsectors, telecom, media and entertainment, financial services, healthcare, consumer goods, retail, energy, manufacturing, and industrials.
Eric joins an established group of highly regarded corporate practitioners in California. With more than 30 lawyers, the group is one of the largest in Northern California. They have advised on some of the most transformative deals in Silicon Valley and around the globe, providing innovative solutions to meet clients' business goals.
"Adding a skilled, driven, client-centric private equity practitioner such as Eric in the Bay Area aligns perfectly with our growth strategy and advances the thriving practice that we are building," said Leif King, head of Baker McKenzie's California Transactional Group. "Eric is an outstanding lawyer and a natural leader. We look forward to greatly expanding our private equity practice with his help."
Baker McKenzie North America Transactional Practice Chair, Alan Zoccolillo, added: "Eric's arrival complements the growing footprint of private equity talent across our North America offices. His extensive experience advising on both large and middle-market private equity matters will be a great benefit to our clients."
"Baker McKenzie has a well-established presence in the Bay Area, with a leading position in TMT, and its global platform is incomparable. I am excited to begin working with colleagues locally and across borders to deliver innovative solutions to meet our clients' business objectives," shared Eric.
As a core part of Baker McKenzie's transactional powerhouse team, the Private Equity group delivers globally-integrated, end-to-end advice across the investment lifecycle, from acquisition to exit. The Firm's seasoned lawyers provide seamless advice through local expertise, deep sector knowledge, commercial acumen, and refined transactional techniques to help clients navigate deal complexities, capture business opportunities, and build portfolio value.
"We expect a continuation of factors to affect private equity over the next year, presenting both risks and opportunities for clients," said Baker McKenzie Global Chair of Private Equity, Karen Guch. "As we continue to grow our global private equity practice, Eric's background and skill set bolster our ability to advise clients in this ever-changing deal market and I look forward to collaborating with him."
Over the past year and a half, Baker McKenzie has expanded its global M&A and private equity platform with the addition of nearly 30 Partners in key business markets. Eric's arrival follows other prominent hires to Baker McKenzie's Global Private Equity team including Erika López (Chicago); Hannah Luqmani (London); Theodore Heng (Singapore); Paolo Ghiglione (Milan); Fernando Torrente (Madrid); Michael Doumet (Paris); Angela Simpson, Lydia Shadrach-Razzino and Verushca Pillay (Johannesburg); Shusmita Chowdhury (Chicago), Filip Uzieblo (Warsaw); and Trench Rossi Watanabe partner Eduardo Herszkowicz* (São Paulo).
*Trench Rossi Watanabe, a Brazilian law firm, and Baker McKenzie have executed a strategic cooperation agreement for consulting on foreign law.