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Presant, Cosentino join Clifford Chance's M&A team in New York

11 January 2012

Presant, Cosentino join Clifford Chance's M&A team in New York

NEW YORK (January 11, 2012) — Leading international law firm Clifford Chance today announced that Ivan Presant and Joseph Cosentino have joined the firm as M&A partners in New York.  The two were previously partners at Dewey & LeBoeuf, where they represented clients on a wide variety of acquisitions, dispositions and other mergers and acquisitions-related activity.

This is the second multi-lateral arrival announced by Clifford Chance in recent months.  In October, the U.S. firm brought aboard three former federal prosecutors – David Raskin, Chris Morvillo and Edward O'Callaghan – to bolster its White Collar litigation practice and trial experience in New York.

Presant, 42, has extensive experience advising domestic and multinational companies as purchasers, sellers and investors in a wide range of business combination transactions involving both public and private companies.  He regularly represents clients on mergers, tender offers, auctions, stock and asset acquisitions and dispositions, and joint ventures.  Cosentino,  41, has represented acquirers, targets, boards of directors, special committees, investment banks, and investors involved in intricate negotiated and unsolicited public and private transactions.  He has significant experience in both domestic and international transactions across a wide array of industries, including telecommunications, technology, entertainment, pharmaceutical, insurance, and energy and utilities.

"We have one of the leading international M&A practices in the world and our Americas team has a strong track record in complex transactions, both domestic and cross-border," said Matthew Layton, who leads Clifford Chance's global Corporate practice area.  "As a next step in our evolution we are continuing to deepen and strengthen our team in the States.  The recruitment of Ivan and Joe is an exciting development and I have no doubt that they will make immediate contributions."

Companies that Presant and Cosentino have advised include Allstate, CNET, Dell, eBay, John Hancock, Talbots, King Pharmaceuticals (now part of Pfizer), CKx, Inc., Alberta Investment Management Corporation and Walt Disney. 

"In addition to working on large contested matters, Ivan and Joe have also represented clients in several of the industry sectors we're focused on as a firm," said Brian Hoffmann, co-head of the Americas Corporate practice at Clifford Chance.  "Their backgrounds support what we are working to accomplish strategically in the U.S., and their collaborative working styles make them a perfect fit for us culturally.  I'm very happy to welcome them to our team."

Along with Presant and Cosentino, the M&A team in New York is being further bolstered by the return this month of John Graham, a Clifford Chance Corporate partner who had been seconded to the firm's Abu Dhabi office since 2009.  While in the United Arab Emirates, Graham helped to build and serve the firm's growing Middle Eastern client base.

Clifford Chance is one of the world’s leading law firms, helping clients achieve their goals by combining the highest global standards with local expertise. The firm has unrivaled scale and depth of legal resources across the four key markets of the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, and focuses on the core areas of: capital markets; corporate and M&A; finance and banking; real estate; tax; pensions and employment; litigation and dispute resolution. Clifford Chance has 33 offices in 23 countries with 3,200 legal advisers.  The firm also operates a cooperation agreement with Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm in Saudi Arabia.