Deborah J. Kirk

Ms. Kirk advises private equity and corporate clients on matters relating to mergers and acquisitions, emerging company considerations and finance, with a particular focus on e-commerce and consumer brands. In addition, she counsels on pre-litigation strategy, IP ownership issues, data privacy and brand development.

Drawing on her deep knowledge of complex technical and legal issues, including in connection with IP and commercial due diligence, Ms. Kirk provides holistic and commercially astute guidance to clients. Her perspectives are gleaned from representing both buyers and sellers in matters involving an array of commercial arrangements, and enable her to anticipate potential challenges in complex transactions and guide them to completion.

Ms. Kirk’s experience prior to joining Skadden includes advising:

Intellectual Property

• Permira Advisers on its commercial contracts, regulatory, IP, IT and data protection diligence in connection with the acquisition of a majority stake in Corin Group, a U.K.-based company that develops, produces and distributes orthopedic devices
• a number of large technology companies in relation to compliance with the EU Copyright Directive

Technology

• Facebook on all IP, technology and data protection issues in connection with its acquisition of Papers With Code, an AI research platform provider
• Farfetch, an online fashion retail platform, on general commercial, IP and data protection issues associated with its acquisition of a large Chinese e-commerce platform and on its global strategic partnership with Alibaba Group and Richemont to enhance access to the China market and accelerate digitization for luxury brands
• NVIDIA, a world leader in artificial intelligence computing, on its proposed (but terminated) $40 billion acquisition of Arm Limited, a Cambridge-headquartered semiconductor and software design company, from SoftBank

Data Protection

• Goldman Sachs on the acquisition of Aston Lark, a U.K.-based provider of insurance brokerage services
• Sony Pictures Entertainment on its acquisition of Silvergate Media, a developer of children’s brands for broadcasters, streaming platforms and retail partners
• a U.S.-based multimedia messaging application on data privacy and e-commerce matters in various international jurisdictions

Carve-Outs

• Lineage Logistics on its acquisition of Harry Yearsley, a U.K.- based temperature-controlled logistics service provider and frozen food distributor
• Platinum Equity on its term loan and revolving credit facility in connection with its acquisition of the European vacation rental business of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation
• a global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure on a potential long-term partnership and license agreement related to a carve-out of certain FX products

Ms. Kirk has also advised on a number of pro bono matters for organizations including, among others, Fairtrade, Save the Children and Dope Black CIC.