David J. Passey joins Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the Tax, Employee Benefits, and Trusts and Estates group

David J. Passey has joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the Tax, Employee Benefits, and Trusts and Estates practice group, based in the firm’s New York office. Passey joins from Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

“David joins Sheppard Mullin as part of an ongoing commitment to deepen our transactional capabilities in New York and firm wide. He is a talented and versatile tax attorney, a combination that blends well with our already prominent Tax practice,” said Guy N. Halgren, chairman of Sheppard Mullin.

“I am pleased to join Sheppard Mullin and have been particularly impressed by the firm’s strategic vision and successful expansion on the East Coast. The opportunity to continue to grow the transactional practice was very attractive to me,” Passey commented.

Passey has more than 15 years of experience, and his practice covers a wide variety of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, partnership transactions, real estate transactions, tax controversy, capital markets and structured products. He works with both private and public companies regarding sales and acquisitions, and regularly advises private equity funds with respect to fund formation and acquisitions, with an emphasis on the tax and ERISA aspects of these transactions.

“We’re thrilled that David has joined the firm. His legal talent and understanding of complex commercial transactions, particularly as it relates to mergers and acquisitions and private equity funds further enhances our capabilities in an area that is crucial to our clients’ businesses,” said Keith R. Gercken, partner and leader of the firm’s Tax, Employee Benefits, and Trusts and Estates practice.

Passey’s recent representative matters include:

• Apollo Education Group, Inc., in its acquisition by Apollo Global Management, LLC
• First Niagara Bank in its acquisition by KeyCorp
• Intercontinental Exchange in its acquisition of Interactive Data Corporation
• Forest City Realty in its recent REIT conversion
• ACE Limited in the acquisition of The Chubb Corporation
• Alexion Pharma in its acquisition of Synageva BioPharma Corp.
• Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in its acquisition of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Kraft Foods Group, Inc., in its acquisition by H.J. Heinz Co.
• Intercontinental Exchange in its acquisition of The New York Stock Exchange
• AT&T in its acquisition of DirecTV
• AT&T in the disposition of its Yellow Pages business to Cerberus Capital
• R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company in the acquisition of Bowne & Co., Inc.
• Fund formation and transactional counsel to private equity funds, such as Goldman Sachs, Carlyle, Cerberus, Reservoir, Lightyear, Ares, CIM Group, Tinicum and Rhone

Passey received a J.D. in 1999 from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from Brigham Young University in 1996.

Sheppard Mullin has more than 80 attorneys based in its New York office. The firm’s Tax practice includes 25 attorneys firm wide.