Joshua Shainess

Joshua Shainess focuses his practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and general corporate and securities matters. Having led the SEC reviews of numerous high-profile and novel M&A, change-in-control and capital markets transactions in recent years, Mr. Shainess provides extensive experience and insight in advising public companies on their most significant transactions.

Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Shainess served for nearly seven years in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, where he held a variety of roles. While working in his most recent position as legal branch chief, he was responsible for overseeing the disclosure of issuers in the technology industry and managing the review of registered public offerings, including IPOs, direct listings and SPAC business combinations.

Mr. Shainess was previously a special counsel in the SEC’s Office of Mergers and Acquisitions, where he focused on the regulation of tender offers, proxy contests, going-private transactions and beneficial ownership reporting. In this role, he also served as a senior legal advisor on complex legal interpretations, rulemaking efforts, emerging disclosure issues and cross-border exemptive relief.

In connection with his work on novel transaction structures at the SEC, Mr. Shainess was selected as a recipient of the SEC’s Byron D. Woodside Award on two separate occasions. He is a member of the American Bar Association’s Federal Regulation of Securities Committee, where he currently serves as vice chair of the Proxy Statements and Business Combinations Subcommittee.