George Casey is Global Managing Partner of the firm. He has also previously served as Global Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group Leader and Global Head of Corporate.

George regularly advises Boards of Directors and management on corporate governance, ESG and shareholder relations issues. As an M&A practitioner, George has extensive experience in U.S. domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, ranging from public company deals to complex carve-out sales, spin-offs, acquisitions of assets and stock, strategic investments and joint venture transactions, representing many of the largest U.S. and non-U.S. corporate and investment banking clients. George combines a very diverse transactional experience with a deep understanding of clients’ businesses across the chemicals, healthcare, mining and metals, media, cable, technology and telecommunications industries.

George regularly represents multinational corporate clients, including Anglo American, Celanese, Dover, Dow Chemical, GlaxoSmithKline, LANXESS, Liberty Global, LyondellBasell, Nokia, Novartis and Thomson Reuters as well as sovereign wealth funds.

George has been inducted by Legal 500 into the Corporate/M&A “Hall of Fame,” one of 21 M&A lawyers across the United States who were awarded this recognition, and has been named as one of only nine M&A “Super All-Stars” in an unprompted client survey of U.S. M&A lawyers by BTI Consulting.  George was also named a “Dealmaker of the Year” and “Transatlantic Corporate Dealmaker” by the American Lawyer for his transactional work.

Chambers quotes clients who describe him as a "phenomenal lawyer" who is "very good at giving very strategic advice" and say that his "experience and perspective…makes him one of [their] most trusted advisers."

In addition to his work with clients, George is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he teaches a course on mergers and acquisitions. He is also a regular lecturer on U.S. M&A at l’ École de Droit de la Sorbonne – Université Paris I. George serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American College of Greece.

• The Dow Chemical Company in its transaction with DuPont involving $130 billion combination of the two companies and separating them into three publicly trading entities and the resulting $50 billion spin-off of Dow Inc.; its $5 billion Reverse Morris Trust transaction with Olin; its negotiations of the $17.4 billion K-Dow joint venture with PIC of Kuwait and in the ensuing arbitration over PIC's refusal to close in which Dow was awarded and was paid $2.16 billion in damages and costs; in its $4.8 billion strategic ownership restructuring of Dow Corning; the $1.5 billion sale of its MEGlobal joint venture interest to EQUATE; its $1.63 billion auction sale of Styron to Bain Capital; its $1.67 billion auction sale of Morton Salt to K+S Aktiengesellschaft; its auction sale of the global polypropylene business to Braskem; and its divestiture of the Calcium Chloride business to Occidental Petroleum.
• LANXESS in its $1.075 billion acquisition of Emerald Kalama Chemical.
• LyondellBasell in its $2.25 billion acquisition of A. Schulman.
• Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Amneal Pharmaceuticals in an acquisition of Kashiv Specialty Pharmaceuticals.
• The Board of Directors of Chef's Warehouse in its interactions and settlement with an activist shareholder.
• Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Novel Denim in its going-private transaction.
• Liberty Global in its $9.3 billion spin-off of Liberty Latin America; its $8.2 billion acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications plc; its $23.3 billion acquisition of Virgin Media in a stock and cash merger transaction, its investment in Lions Gate Entertainment and on the creation of its tracking stock under English law for operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• GlaxoSmithKline in its $5.1 billion acquisition of Tesaro.
• Novartis in its $3.9 billion acquisition through a tender offer of Advanced Accelerator Applications S.A.; in "white knight" offer for Aventis in connection with an unsolicited offer for Aventis by Sanofi; $2.5 billion auction sale of the Medical Nutrition business to Nestlé; and auction sale of its Nutrition & Santé business to a private equity buyer.
• Nokia in its sale of the HERE digital mapping business to a consortium comprised of Audi AG, BMW Group and Daimler AG, and in its $8.1 billion acquisition of NAVTEQ.
• Bojangles’ Inc. in its sale to Durational Capital Management and The Jordan Company in a public company merger transaction.
• KMG Chemicals, Inc. in its $1.6 billion sale to Cabot Microelectronics Corporation in a public company merger transaction.
• LANXESS in its acquisition of the Clean and Disinfect business of Chemours, and in its acquisition of Solvay's US phosphorus additives business.
• Sasol Limited in the sale of its 50% membership interest in its polyethylene joint venture to INEOS.
• Celanese Corporation in the restructuring of its 50/50 Korea Engineering Plastics Co. joint venture with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc., and in the $1.575 billion divestiture of its interest in its Polyplastics joint venture to Daicel Corporation.
• Instrumentarium in its $2.3 billion acquisition by GE.
• Anglo American plc in its sale of the Anglo Norte copper business to a consortium led by Audley Capital Advisors LLP, in its $5.39 billion sale to Mitsubishi of a 24.5% interest in Anglo American Sur, a Chilean copper mining company, and its subsequent settlement of a dispute and $2.8 billion sale of an interest in AA Sur to CODELCO, a Chilean State-owned company, and Mitsui; and its $1.0 billion auction sale of Moly Cop and AltaSteel businesses to OneSteel Limited.
• ArcelorMittal in its $1.1 billion sale of a 15% interest in a joint venture comprising ArcelorMittal's Labrador Trough iron ore mining and infrastructure assets in Canada to a consortium led by POSCO of Korea and China Steel Corporation of Taiwan.
• Arcelor in its $4.7 billion unsolicited offer for Dofasco in Canada; and in connection with the acquisition of additional interest in CST in Brazil.
• Pechiney in connection with an initially unsolicited and later recommended $6.7 billion tender offer by Alcan.
• Thomson Reuters in $7.75 billion auction sale of Thomson Learning to Apax and OMERS; its acquisition of MarkMonitor; its auction sale of BarBri to a private equity buyer; divestiture of NETg to SkillSoft; divestiture of Prometric to ETS; and auction sale of a database to FactSet.
• AngloGold in its $1.9 billion acquisition of Ashanti, a Ghanaian gold mining company.
• Bell Canada International and other shareholders in the $1.0 billion sale of their interest in Hansol M.com to Korea Telecom.
• Axel Springer in connection with the acquisition of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG.
• Alcan in its acquisition of the cathodes business of GrafTech International Ltd.
• Ebookers plc in its acquisition by Cendant.

Professional Affiliations

• Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Regular guest lecturer at l'École de Droit de la Sorbonne - Université Paris I
• Contributing Editor of the inaugural Chambers’ Technology M&A Global Practice Guide

Awards & Accolades

• Named by clients as one of nine M&A “Super All-Stars” in a survey of U.S. M&A lawyers by BTI Consulting (2021)
• Named Leading Dealmaker in America by Lawdragon (2021)
• Inducted into the Legal 500 US Corporate/M&A “Hall of Fame” (2020)
• M&A Group led by George ranked Top Transactional Practice by the Corporate Counsel Readers’ Survey (2020)
• Named Most Influential M&A Lawyer (New York) by Acquisition INTL (2018)
• Named Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer (2016)
• Named Transatlantic Corporate Dealmaker, M&A (U.S.) by The American Lawyer (2016)
• Finalist for the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards (2013, 2016, 2018)
• Awarded M&A Deal of the Year for the $3.9 billion acquisition of Advanced Accelerator Applications S.A. (2019)
• Awarded M&A Deal of the Year for The Dow Chemical Company's carve-out of its chlor-alkali business and merger of the new entity with Olin Corporation through a Reverse Morris Trust transaction. This complex and unique transaction included a carve-out, equity and debt exchanges, and a public company merger (2016)
• M&A Group awarded the M&A Team of the Year by IFLR (2018)
• Chambers quotes clients who describe him as a "phenomenal lawyer" who is "very good at giving very strategic advice" and say that his "experience and perspective…makes him one of [their] most trusted advisers."
• IFLR1000 Leading Lawyer for financial and corporate law (2017)

Recent Publications

• “Overview and Introduction to Chambers' First Technology M&A Guide,” Chambers’ 2022 Global Practice Guides, December 2021 - read
• “’Ordinary Course of Business’ During Not-So Ordinary Times,” M&A Watch, December 2021 - read
• “Recent Shareholder Activism Trends,” 2021 Corporate Governance Survey, November 2021 - read
• “’Mission Critical’ Board Oversight,” M&A Watch, November 2021 - read
• “Contractual Limits on Liability Only Go So Far in Delaware,” Law360, September 2021 - read
• “Four Key Areas in M&A and Governance Boards Should Focus on Post Pandemic,”the Corporate Board Member Magazine, September 2021 - read
• “Delaware Court Rejects Buyer’s Claim of an MAE,” Harvard Forum on Corporate Governance, August 2021 - read
• “A Wrong Poison Pill,” Corporate Board Member,” March 2021 – read
• “M&A: Looking Back/Looking Forward: Key Takeaways for Boards from 2020 and Likely Trends for the Coming Year,” Corporate Board Member, January 2021 - read
• “Governance Amid Crisis,” the Corporate Board Member Magazine, First Quarter 202 - read
• “Effects of COVID-19 on Shareholder Activism and M&A: Views from Corporate Boards and the Market,“ Corporate Board Member, October 2020
• “ESG Considerations in M&A,” M&A Lawyer, August 2020, and Corporate Board Member, September 2020 - read
• “Seeking Your True Purpose? Delaware Offers Guidance on Section 220 requests,” November 2019, M&A Watch - read
• “New Regulations Significantly Expand CFIUS Reach,” M&A Watch, September 2019 - read
• “Caremark Unfrozen: Delaware Supreme Court Revisits Oversight Claims,” M&A Watch, July 2019 - read
• “How to Get a Big “MAC” in Delaware,” M&A Watch, October 2018 - read
• “FTC Warning: Don’t Overshare in Pending Deals,” M&A Watch, April 2018 - read
• “Ant Financial and MoneyGram Terminate Merger Agreement Due to CFIUS Concerns,” M&A Watch, January 2018 - read
• “That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles: Delaware Court Rejects MAE Claim in Commercial Contract Negotiation,” M&A Watch, July 2017 - read
• “Shareholders and Boards of Directors in US Mergers and Acquisitions,” chapter in The Mergers & Acquisitions Review, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Edition, Law Business Research

Conferences

• “New Realities in M&A,” chair a panel at the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange, October 2021
• “The Board’s Role in Improving M&A Deal Outcomes,” chair a panel at theCorporate Board Member annual Boardroom Summit, September 2021
• “ESG Considerations in M&A,” presenter at the annual American Bar Association meeting, September 2021
• “Comparative Deal Architecture: Are US and European Deals Built the Same Way?”, chair the Conference Moderated by Chief Justice Leo Strine, March 2020
• “To ESG or Not to ESG? That is no Longer a Question,” chair a panel at the Society for Corporate Governance 2020 Annual Conference, September 2020
• “Shareholder Activism in the COVID-19 Era,” chair a panel at the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange, October 2020
• “Considering ESG in M&A Strategy,” chair a roundtable discussion at the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange, October 2020
• 2020 Annual Boardroom Summit, chair of a panel “Would Your M&A Transaction Withstand a Shareholder Challenge?”,November 2020
• “Picking the Right Poison Pill: Strategies for Preventing Opportunistic Stock Sweeps and Preserving Value,” Webinar, May 2020
• “Current Issues Relating to Spin-Offs: Two-Part Discussion,” Webinar, September 2020
• “Reverse Morris Trust Transactions for the C-Suite,” Webinar, October 2020
• 2019 Annual Boardroom Summit, chair of a panel “M&A Rules of Engagement for the Board,” April 2019
• Transaction Advisors’ 2019 M&A Conference at Wharton San Francisco, chair of a panel “Joint Ventures and Minority Investments,” March 2019
• Transaction Advisors’ 2018 M&A Conference at the University of Chicago, chair of a panel “Cross-Border Acquisition Techniques and Considerations,” 2016-2018
• Tulane Corporate Law Institute M&A Conference, panelist, March 2017
• “Special Committees of the Board in M&A Transactions,” chair of a panel on Board governance and special committee considerations andbest practices, NYSE Annual Boardroom Summit 2011-2017
• “US or EU: Which has – as a Matter of Fact – A More Open Market for Corporate Control,” chair of a conference moderated by Chief Justice Leo Strine, February 2014
• “What to Do When an Acquiror Knocks?”—led a panel on how the Board of Directors and senior executives should respond to an unsolicited takeover proposal at the Seventh Annual Boardroom Summit 2010
• “Special Committees of the Board in M&A Transactions”—featured in a Corporate Board Member “Board Member Series” video interviews
• “Trends in global M&A activity,” Financier Worldwide, 2015
• USA:Trends & Developments, Corporate M&A, Chambers Legal Practice Guides, 2013 and 2014
• Q&A interview with Bloomberg onthe global M&A market, cross-border transactions and key Delaware case law developments, April 2013
• “Current Trends in M&A,”—featured in the NYSE Corporate Board Member “The Boardroom Channel Series” 2012 video interview