Skip to main content

News

Freshfields Adds M&A Partner Joshua Ayal in New York

Freshfields announced today that Joshua Ayal joined the firm’s M&A team in New York as partner.

Josh has extensive experience in high-profile public and private company M&A transactions for both strategic and private equity clients over the last decade. In addition to his focus on M&A, he advises corporations and their directors on activist defense and general corporate and governance matters.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work both alongside and opposite Josh, and have seen first-hand both his technical ability and his incredible commitment to client service,” said Damien Zoubek, Co-Head of US Corporate and M&A at Freshfields. “Josh is a great addition to our expanding market-leading M&A team and we are thrilled that he has joined us.”

Josh noted “Freshfields is making an impressive and noticeable impact in the U.S. M&A market and I’m excited to be joining this team of talented lawyers at this exciting time. I look forward to continuing to build my practice on the firm’s U.S. and global platforms and bringing to bear all of the firm’s expertise and scale to serve clients.”

Josh is the latest partner to join Freshfields’ U.S. M&A team following lateral partners Denny Kwon in Silicon Valley, Sanjay MurtiSteven Li and private equity M&A leaders Neal Reenan and Ian Bushner in New York, as well as recent partner promotions of Oliver Board and Tomas Rua in New York.

Josh joins a team ranked Band One for Corporate/M&A by Chambers Global and that finished 2023 in the number one position in Bloomberg’s cross-border M&A league table (by value). Additionally, Freshfields finished 2023 in the top 10 in Bloomberg’s U.S. M&A league table after having led $195 billion in total U.S. M&A deal volume last year. 

About Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a global law firm with a long-standing track record of successfully supporting the world's leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments on groundbreaking and business-critical mandates. Our 2,800-plus lawyers and other legal professionals deliver results worldwide through our own offices and alongside leading local firms. Our commitment, local and multinational expertise, and business know-how means our clients rely on us when it matters most.

Freshfields holds eight global Band 1 rankings from Chambers across antitrust, corporate/M&A, litigation, international arbitration, employee benefits, tax, public international law, and crisis management. For more information visit our home page.