Edward Harper Batts

Based in Silicon Valley, Ed Batts is an attorney, military veteran, and former federal special agent. Early in his legal career, he simultaneously worked for a civilian law practice and the United States Navy's Naval Criminal Investigative Service. In 2008, he was transferred to the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA and member of Phi Beta Kappa, Ed Batts was the commencement speaker at his graduation. He interned at Empower America, a center-right think tank in Washington, D.C., and the Department of State as an undergraduate. After earning his juris doctor from Stanford Law School, he began his legal career at the Silicon Valley firm Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich LLP, which later merged to become DLA Piper LLP. He primarily represented underwriters and companies in IPOs before pivoting to M&A following the technology recession of 2000. Ed Batts served as global chair of M&A and private equity at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP from 2016 to 2020 and is now partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He provides counsel to national and international companies in complex M&A, including cross-border transactions, tender offers, and going-private transactions. He also counsels clients on fiduciary and corporate governance matters such as public reporting obligations, board issues, and cybersecurity incident crisis management. His clients include enterprise software, auto, and energy businesses. Mr. Batts is a member of the California Bar as well as the American Nuclear Society and the International Nuclear Lawyers Association. He publishes corporate governance surveys for the energy and technology industries and regularly speaks at corporate law conferences, including the Financial Times Outstanding Directors Exchange, Stanford Directors College, and UC Berkeley's annual M&A/governance forums.