M&A Associate Attorney

Lateral Link; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 365,000 - 435,000; Full time

Job summary

Lateral Link in San Francisco is hiring senior M&A associates (5–9 years) for a first-chair role on purchases and cross-border matters. The firm promises a path to partnership on a growing West Coast platform and a Cravath-scale compensation package.

You will lead negotiations, act client-facing from day one, and drive major technology deals across borders with the firm’s global offices. This is a rare lateral opportunity for senior practitioners seeking scale and prominence.

Qualifications

• 5–9 years of corporate M&A experience at a firm or in-house.
• Experience negotiating critical deal points with opposing counsel.
• Proven track record leading deals or significant contributors on a team.

Responsibilities

• Lead first-chair on purchase agreements and interact with opposing counsel.
• Be client-facing from day one and contribute to cross-border deals.
• Support a growing California platform with West Coast expansion.

Skills

M&A experience

Negotiation

Client-facing

Deal leadership

Job description

The Bay Area M&A groups that are hiring right now are the ones with a real cross-border book — the tech deals worth running have a foreign buyer, a foreign target, or a foreign regulator in them, and the associates who've closed one from the US side are in short supply.

An elite global firm with a top-ranked M&A practice is hiring senior M&A associates (5–9 years) in San Francisco, with counsel title on the table at 7+. Cravath scale — $365K–$435K depending on class year, plus a full year-end bonus for laterals who join before year-end.

You'd run deals rather than support them — first-chair on the purchase agreement, across the table from opposing counsel, and client-facing from day one — in a US group that's building out its West Coast presence fast enough that the partner runway is real.

The work includes:

• Public and private M&A — mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, and take-privates
• Joint ventures, consortium deals, and strategic business combinations
• Venture capital financings and growth-stage transactions for technology clients
• Cross-border transactions with the firm's offices across Europe and Asia

What you bring:

• 5–9 years of corporate M&A experience at a firm or in-house
• Reps negotiating critical deal points with opposing counsel and running an issues list on a purchase agreement
• Demonstrated experience running deals or serving as a significant contributor on a team

What you get:

• A full year-end bonus even if you start in Q4, which almost no firm offers a lateral
• Counsel title at 7+ and a genuine path to partner on a growing California platform
• Cravath scale ($365K–$435K depending on class year), plus bonus eligibility