Overview

Jonathan is an extraordinarily bright, young M&A star - The American Lawyer

Jonathan Davis is a corporate partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice primarily focuses on public and private company M&A transactions and activist defense. Jonathan also advises corporations and their directors on general corporate and governance matters.

Over the course of his career, Jonathan has advised on transactions having an aggregate value of approximately $750 billion. In recent years, he has participated in some of the largest and most high profile M&A transactions in history, including Anheuser‑Busch InBev’s $123B acquisition of SABMiller, Bristol Meyer Squibb’s $90B acquisition of Celgene, AbbVie’s $63B acquisition of Allergan and H.J. Heinz’s $60B merger with Kraft.

In 2021, Jonathan was one of six M&A attorneys recognized in Bloomberg Law’s inaugural “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40” awards, and was profiled by Insider as one of 29 M&A lawyers “leading the way on billion-dollar M&A deals.” He was recognized as a 2020 “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer, and he was one of five M&A attorneys nationwide chosen as a Law360 MVP in 2019. Chambers and Partners has listed Jonathan as a top M&A attorney in 2020, 2021 and 2022. He was also named a "Rising Star" in M&A by Law360 in 2017 and 2018 and has been repeatedly recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. for his work in M&A generally and in the technology sector from 2016–2022. In addition, after naming him a “Rising Star” in 2017, IFLR1000 recognized Jonathan as “Highly Regarded” in 2021 and 2022.

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Recognition

Corporate/M&A ─ New York, Chambers USA, 2020–2022

They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40 (M&A), Bloomberg Law, 2021

MVP, Mergers and Acquisitions, Law360, 2019

Mergers and Acquisitions, Law360, 2017–2018

Mergers and Acquisitions, IFLR1000, 2017–2022

M&A: Large Deals ($1bn+) [Next Generation], The Legal 500 U.S., 2016–2022

Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

  • New York

Education

  • New York University School of LawJ.D.
  • University of Wisconsin-MadisonB.B.A.