Distinguished Leader: Marc Jaffe

What are some of your proudest recent achievements?

Latham & Watkins has provided me so many extraordinary opportunities to impact my clients, the firm, and the local community. I’ve been honored to serve as global corporate department chair since 2016 and help oversee its top-tier practices and remarkable growth. In my personal practice, I’ve been so proud and fortunate to work side by side with my visionary clients, from innovative startups and tech companies to global financial institutions, throughout their life cycle.

I’m privileged to lead an incredibly talented team of more than 1,100 lawyers in our 30+ offices around the globe steering the most innovative, sophisticated, and high-stakes matters. Notably, in the last year our group represented Virgin Galactic in its merger with Social Capital Hedosophia, creating the world’s first and only publicly traded commercial human spaceflight company; Intuit in its $7.1 billion acquisition of Credit Karma; Hyundai Motor Group in its $4 billion autonomous driving joint venture with Aptiv; and the committee of independent directors of T-Mobile in its completed merger with Sprint to create the New T-Mobile. We also advised the underwriters in Saudi Aramco’s historic $29.4 billion IPO, the largest IPO of all time. Successfully executing a deal of Aramco’s magnitude and complexity required Latham’s expertise across multiple practices and offices, and it was a perfect example of Latham’s sweet spot—complex, multi-jurisdictional and interdisciplinary work.

In addition, I’m proud to help foster collaboration among all of Latham’s exceptional global departments—corporate; finance; litigation & trial; tax; and environment, land & resources—to ensure clients across sectors are receiving seamless and comprehensive legal counsel on any issue they may face.

I’m especially gratified to help cultivate the next generation of lawyers and future leaders who will continue to do incredible work for their clients and communities. In addition to their commercial practice, every year our lawyers engage in thousands of hours of pro bono service in nearly every area of public interest law, including veterans’ rights, asylum and immigration, and Holocaust reparations.

This year I was delighted to help spearhead Latham’s unique collaboration with the authors of the third edition of Investment Banking: Valuation, LBOs, M&A, and IPOs, a best-selling book released in the spring. Sponsored by Nasdaq, the book is a go-to resource on valuation and deal-making for investment banks, private equity firms, and corporations and used in over 200 universities. Latham contributed to several chapters covering the latest developments in IPOs, direct listings, special purpose acquisition companies, convertible notes, M&A and leveraged buyouts. This collaboration is further testament to our position as the world’s leading capital markets, M&A, and finance firm.

Name a lawyer or mentor whose leadership inspired you.

So many have inspired me, but I’m particularly grateful for the leadership, mentorship, and friendship of retired Latham partner Kirk Davenport. He personifies what it means to be a Latham lawyer, both through the substance of his legal work and the charismatic force of his personality. He served as a member of Latham’s executive committee and as global chair of the capital markets practice. He also co-founded and co-chaired the National Office, a central resource of former SEC officials and senior attorneys, for clients and Latham lawyers facing complex issues arising under the US securities laws. In all of these positions, Kirk played a significant role in the firm’s growth and building our reputation as the leading capital markets firm in the world. He was at the forefront of many of the firm’s innovative and user-friendly thought leadership offerings, including our popular “Corporate and Bank Finance Book of Jargon” app, a go-to interactive glossary of capital markets and banking slang, and the Words of Wisdom resource center that demystifies and analyzes complex legal topics with a clever spin and plenty of film references. Kirk emphasized providing practical, commercial advice to clients, trained and encouraged lawyers at all levels, dared us to innovate, and left a profound legacy of teamwork that is a hallmark of Latham’s culture (not to mention a standard of humor and humility that I find refreshing among law firms). 

How are the business and profession of law changing, and how should lawyers adapt for the future? 

Lawyers should focus on becoming true partners to their clients and part of clients’ core decision-making teams, rather than advising on one-off transactions or cases. Latham has strategically invested in becoming a “cradle to grave” partner to our clients. With a global platform of top-tier transactional, litigation, and regulatory capabilities across practices, we are equipped to address any issue our clients may face throughout their life cycle. Also, as new technologies shape industries and disrupt business, it’s critical that lawyers anticipate and learn about innovations and fast-emerging trends that will have wide-ranging implications for business, regulatory frameworks, and the economy. We’re at an important inflection point for technology in the legal sector, and lawyers will need to harness innovative technologies like artificial intelligence and data analytics to serve clients effectively. Overall, lawyers need to be forward thinkers and stay ahead of business trends to achieve success with clients and at their firms. 

What is the best advice for someone considering a career in law, or someone already in the profession who is seeking to make a greater impact? 

The key to being an effective leader, a valued adviser to your clients, and a good colleague, is to genuinely enjoy your work. The passion and energy you bring to achieving excellence and making a difference are contagious. Never take yourself too seriously, put others first, and have fun.