James Schell has joined Mayer Brown as a partner in its Corporate & Securities practice in New York. Previously, he was a partner at Skadden, serving as the head of that firm’s interdisciplinary private equity funds team in the Investment Management group.
“Jim joins Mayer Brown as part of the rapid and continued expansion of our fund formation practice, which over the last two years has welcomed Tram Nguyen, Aubry Smith, Iliana Kirova and Kristine Koren in New York, as well as Gordon Palmquist in Tokyo,” said John W. Noell Jr., the head of Mayer Brown’s global Investment Management and Fund Formation group. “Jim’s arrival is the latest example of our success in building a highly competitive fund formation team.”
Schell has more than 25 years of experience in representing private investment funds, banks, insurance companies, investment banking firms and other financial institutions in a broad range of financing and investment transactions. He advises established private equity and hedge fund firms that need to be restructured to address succession, governance or ownership issues, as well as new investment management firms being established by individuals, family offices or traditional financial institutions.
Schell also has extensive experience counseling global professional services businesses, including accounting, banking and investment management firms on mergers, combinations and joint ventures. His work with accounting firms has involved a broad range of operational matters, including techniques for cross-border contractual procedures, investment and personnel deployment, as well as governance issues unique to large partnerships.
