Biography • Corporate Governance

Paul Rowe became a partner in the litigation department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz in 1985. He focuses on representing corporations and directors in litigation involving M&A transactions, proxy contests, shareholder class actions involving allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, derivative actions and special committees. He is also an experienced federal securities law litigator, having recently represented Penn National Gaming in obtaining Fourth Circuit affirmance of dismissal of shareholder litigation arising out of Penn's uncompleted 2007 leveraged buy-out.

Mr Rowe has written extensively on subjects relating to fiduciary duties and other corporation and securities law issues, including "Pills, Polls and Professors: A Reply to Professor Gilson", co-authored with Martin Lipton, in The Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, 2002, vol. 1. In recent years, Mr Rowe has been prominent in various high-profile M&A litigations, representing Novartis in litigations arising out of its acquisition in Alcon; representing CONSOL Energy in litigation arising out of its acquisition of CNX Gas Corporation; representing Goldman Sachs in litigation arising out of the buy-out of Kinder Morgan Inc.; representing Wells Fargo in litigation arising out of its purchase of Wachovia Corp.; and Rohm & Haas in its litigation to require Dow Chemical to close its acquisition agreement.

Mr Rowe received an AB degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1976, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1979 with a JD degree, magna cum laude. Mr Rowe was a member of the Harvard Law Review from 1977-79 and, after law school, was a law clerk to the Honorable J Edward Lumbard of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 1997-98, M. Rowe was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, teaching a course on mergers and acquisitions. He is a frequent participant on CLE panels and other professional activities.