Speakers

Kenneth E. Young, co-chair of Dechert's corporate and securities practice, a member of the firm’s Policy Committee, and co-head of Dechert’s private equity group, focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, with a particular emphasis on private equity and public company M&A. He also works with alternative asset manager firms on strategic transactions aimed at diversifying and growing their businesses.

With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Young is a trusted adviser who enables private equity sponsors and other asset managers to close complex deals, actively engaging with them to shape the market’s wider trajectory. His practice straddles the convergence of current trends in the capital-facing markets and he regularly provides strategic advice to a wide array of clients, including private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies; financial institutions (such as asset management firms, business development companies and other permanent capital vehicles and specialty finance companies); investment and commercial banks; and other strategic buyers and sellers across industries, such as technology, telecom and software.

Advising private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies is also at the core of Mr. Young’s practice. Leveraging his understanding of the most current market drivers, he regularly represents clients in domestic and cross-border M&A and other transactions. Throughout his career, he has counseled dozens of private equity sponsors, including Blackstone, Centerbridge Partners, Court Square Capital Partners, Estancia Capital Partners, and KKR, among others.

Mr. Young is also a leader of the firm’s financial services M&A efforts, devoting a significant portion of his practice to advising alternative asset managers regarding efforts to diversify their businesses, including through acquisitions, as well as in the development and launch of permanent capital vehicles. Representative clients include Barings, Bain, Blackstone, Centerbridge Partners, GoldenTree Asset Management, KKR, Stifel Financial Corp., T. Rowe Price and many others. His work in this space has been instrumental in cementing Dechert’s recognition as a top-ranked law firm in the United States for Financial Institutions M&A by legal directory Chambers USA and as “Financial Services Law Firm of the Year” for two consecutive years by The Deal.

Mr. Young is recognized as a leading corporate/M&A and private equity lawyer and financial services M&A lawyer by Chambers USA where he is praised for being “amazing to work with,” “extremely client-service focused, sharp and thoughtful" and “very creative and helps us come up with innovative legal and structuring solutions for complex situations.” He is also listed as a recommended lawyer by legal directory The Legal 500 US for his work in both M&A: large deals ($1 BN+) and private equity buyouts: large deals. In the most recent edition of The Legal 500 US, Mr. Young is praised for being “a superstar – brilliant lawyer, great negotiator, strong commercial instincts, protects the fort from trouble.” He is listed as “highly regarded” in M&A by IFLR1000. In 2024, Mr. Young was named the "Most Effective Dealmaker" by The Legal Intelligencer.

Education
Cornell University, B.A., 1997, cum laude
Columbia Law School, J.D., 2002, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar

Admission
New York
Pennsylvania