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Robin Johnson

Partner
Cross border M&A Partner and Chair of the Industrials Sector Group and past chair of the firm's international M&A team.

Robin is a cross-border M&A lawyer with over 35 years’ experience.  

He is widely regarded as one of the most talented M&A advisers of his generation. Over his career, he has advised clients from all over the world on their most strategically critical global transactions. On every deal – regardless of size, scope and timeline - Robin believes in delivering excellence, be that in the quality of technical advice or the service provided. He always delivers the very best outcome for his client.

Robin is more than a lawyer; he is a business adviser. He has been at the forefront of the M&A market for nearly four decades and in that time has been involved in more transactions and seen more issues than just about any other lawyer. 

A prolific deal doer, Legal Business once described him as one of the top 10 M&A lawyers in the UK. 

He also has been on the editorial board for LexisNexis on M&A, and he is an accomplished speaker on M&A trends and practice. He chaired a series of podcasts for The Lawyer Magazine during the pandemic regarding how the pandemic was affecting M&A.

Robin has been described as a “lawyer’s lawyer “and as “the ultimate M&A lawyer for deal professionals to bounce ideas off.”  

For Robin, it is about the creation, maintenance, preservation and realization of wealth and capital. 

Robin advocates project management and ensures that all transactions are run according to a process. He likes to actively support that process and ensure that the project management side of any transaction is controlled at all times to deliver excellence. 

Robin believes that there are usually 10 points on any particular transaction that needs to be dealt with and the rest is process, hence his focus on process. Robin understands the need to add value and always agrees the scope of work upfront in any transaction. He likes to keep his teams focused and is very hands-on. In 2021 and 2022, Robin was named one of BTI Consulting’s client service all-stars for his cross-border M&A activities.

One of Robin’s most valued skills is the ability to bridge the gap between different jurisdictions to understand the needs of companies and investors participating in the global M&A market. For many years he was a member of the ABA Transactions Taskforce and is very familiar with US-style documentation and has used that experience to set expectations in relation to both UK and European deals for US multi-nationals. He uses all of his experience, gained over a long and active career, to provide guidance to our teams as they address deal issues. 

Outside of advising clients, Robin has written many opinion pieces, including for the Wall Street Journal, the Baird Global M&A Guide, the ABA Joint Venture Guide, and many other publications from a sector and more mainstream legal perspective.

He was a previous board member of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP and has been on the councils of The University of Leeds and The University of Lancaster. 

Robin is a firm believer in equality of opportunity and is passionate about making sure ESG is more than a tick in the box.

In his spare time Robin plays golf and follows the travails of the English cricket team. In more recent times, he has become a program editor for his local community Rugby Club, Wharfedale RUFC. He, his wife and his dog are part of the ardent “Green Machine” traveling support going to grounds up and down the North of England on Winter Saturday afternoons. 

Robin has also been involved in two secondments during his career, firstly supporting Parker Hannifin in setting up their European sale structure and secondly as interim European and Asian General Counsel for Archer-Daniels-Midland. 

Robin acts for many serial M&A acquirers, including supporting Next plc regarding its total platform solution transactions, FTSE 250 client Cranswick plc regarding its acquisitions, particularly in the protein sector, and many Fortune 500 and Russell 600 companies like TE Connectivity and Parker Hannifin.

  • Ranked in Chambers Europe 2018, 2019
  • Ranked in Chambers UK 2018, 2019
  • Member of the ABA International M&A Task Force
  • Member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
  • Member of Lexis PLS On consulting editorial board for corporate M&A
  • Non-executive director of the University of Leeds
Robin Johnson

Partner

Cross border M&A Partner and Chair of the Industrials Sector Group and past chair of the firm's international M&A team.

Robin Johnson

Partner

Cross border M&A Partner and Chair of the Industrials Sector Group and past chair of the firm's international M&A team.

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