Megan Gess, a veteran corporate lawyer with extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the food and beverage industry, among others, has joined Haynes and Boone, LLP as a partner in the Business Transactions Department.
She will work in the firm's Orange County office, focusing on middle-market M&A transactions. Her hiring is part of a strategic focus to expand the firm’s corporate and M&A presence in California.
Gess advises companies on sophisticated M&A, corporate governance, private equity, securities and commercial transactions across a range of industries, including food and beverage, technology, financial services, healthcare and life sciences.
“Megan understands the variety of legal issues that food, beverage and restaurant companies face on a daily basis,” said Jennifer Wisinski, chair of Business Transactions, Haynes and Boone, LLP. “We are excited to have Megan join our growing food and beverage practice. We have an experienced, diverse, and dynamic team that helps our clients navigate challenges in many areas of food and beverage, including M&A, strategic growth and regulatory issues, and Megan is an excellent addition.”
Gess added: “I am excited to join a firm with such dynamic M&A and food and beverage practices and to help Haynes and Boone expand those practices on the West Coast and beyond.”
She joins Haynes and Boone from Troutman Sanders LLP, where she was a partner. Prior to that, she was a partner and co-chair of the Food & Beverage Industry team at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP. Gess serves on the board of directors of Team Kids, an organization that empowers children to change the world by implementing innovative school-based and community wide service learning programs.
Haynes and Boone has comprehensive experience handling middle market deals, having helped clients close more than 500 transactions in the last five years, with an aggregate value exceeding $40 billion. The firm routinely represents private equity firms, closely-held corporations, founders, large financial institutions and Fortune 500 public companies. The firm has particular experience helping food, beverage and restaurant companies achieve their strategic business goals and grow their brands and company, while also advising them on regulatory, safety, and supply chain issues.
Haynes and Boone is an international corporate law firm with offices in Texas, New York, California, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., London, Mexico City and Shanghai, providing a full spectrum of legal services in energy, technology, financial services and private equity. With more than 575 lawyers, Haynes and Boone is ranked among the largest U.S.-based firms by The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and The Lawyer.