O’Melveny announced today that private equity lawyer James Brownstein has joined the firm’s Century City office as a partner in the Private Equity Group, expanding the firm’s M&A capabilities on the West Coast and bolstering its fast-growing private equity team.
Brownstein has deep experience advising sophisticated private equity sponsors in Northern and Southern California and nationally—principally in the middle-market—on new platform investments and add-on acquisitions. He also advises private equity-owned companies on general corporate, commercial, and governance matters.
Brownstein comes to O’Melveny from the Los Angeles office of Kirkland & Ellis, where he was a partner in that firm’s M&A/Private Equity Practice. His addition accelerates O’Melveny’s continued strategic growth. With his arrival, 14 lateral partners have joined the firm in the past year, including six corporate partners based in the firm’s Century City, Los Angeles, New York, and London offices.
“James is a highly regarded lawyer with impeccable credentials in the mid-market private equity space,” said O’Melveny chair Bradley J. Butwin. “The addition of a deal-maker of his caliber significantly expands our ability to serve private equity and M&A clients in California and nationally. It is a pleasure to welcome James to O’Melveny.”
“I’m delighted to be joining O’Melveny’s growing private equity team,” said Brownstein. “O’Melveny has a world-class platform and a commitment to client service and culture that aligns with my own. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to build a premier mid-market private equity practice.”
Brownstein earned his LL.M. in Corporate Law from New York University School of Law and served as graduate editor of the NYU Journal of Law & Business. He earned his LL.B., with honors, from the University of Melbourne in Australia.