Practice Focus

Corporate Governance, Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities, Private Equity and Venture Capital

Maureen Brennan Gershanik is a partner in the firm’s Business Section. She practices primarily in the areas of corporate law and governance, securities law, and mergers and acquisitions. She also advises clients on ESG initiatives.

Maureen has an active business transactional and advisory practice. She works with clients on public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, acquisition transactions, restructuring transactions, business separations, new business formations, and other transactions. She also advises a range of public companies and private businesses and counsels boards of directors on corporate governance, securities law compliance, SEC reporting, executive employment matters, and executive compensation.

She has been recognized since 2013 as a leading lawyer in Corporate/M&A practice by Chambers & Partners. Chambers noted that clients consider Maureen’s expertise in corporate governance “invaluable.” She is also known to be “a talented, insightful, and dedicated attorney who reflects most positively on the legal profession.”

Maureen has been active in business law reform efforts in Louisiana and nationally. She is an appointed member of the Corporate Laws Committee of the American Bar Association, which oversees and continually revises the ABA’s Model Business Corporation Act, one of the most significant responsibilities of the ABA’s Business Law Section. She is also a member of the Corporations Committee of the Louisiana Law Institute, which was responsible for the comprehensive revision of the state’s corporation statute that took effect in 2015, and is currently re-drafting the Louisiana limited liability company statute.

Maureen is a past Chairperson and Council Member of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Section on Corporate and Business Law. She has been a speaker on securities and corporation law at legal seminars and graduate schools, and she serves as co-instructor of the Corporate Governance mini-course at Tulane Law School. She is a member of the National Council of Jewish Women – Greater New Orleans and serves as Member of the Board of Trustees, Touro Synagogue (New Orleans). She also serves on the Jewish Endowment Foundation Board of Directors. Maureen is co-leader of the Fishman Haygood Women’s Group, and she is a member of the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Impact 100 women’s giving initiative.

Education

  • J.D., Class Valedictorian, from Louisiana State University, 2000
    • Editor-in-Chief of the Louisiana Law Review
    • Order of the Coif
  • B.S.F.S., cum laude, from Georgetown University, 1992

Clerkship

  • Clerk to the Honorable John M. Duhé, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2000-2001

Publications / Presentations

Publications

Presentations

  • Panelist, “Activism and ESG Considerations in Today’s World,” 35th Annual Tulane Corporate Law Institute, March 24, 2023
  • Panelist, “ESG Considerations in Dealmaking,” 34th Annual Tulane Corporate Law Institute, March 17, 2022

Representative Matters

  • Represents public companies, including Sanderson Farms, Inc. prior to its acquisition, in securities law matters, such as periodic SEC reporting, corporate governance, executive compensation and general counseling of the board of directors
  • Advising a board of directors on corporate environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) and sustainability matters and investor messaging on ESG and sustainability efforts
  • Represented Sanderson Farms, Inc. in its $120 million secondary offering of common stock and other public companies in shelf registrations
  • Represents public and private businesses in a range of industries in merger and acquisition transactions, including representation of a public company buyer in a recent stock acquisition of an exploration and production company
  • Represents registered broker-dealer firm in FINRA and other compliance matters
  • Represents private businesses in capital raising transactions, including private placements of equity and debt securities
  • Advises privately-held profit and non-profit corporations and LLCs on state corporate and LLC law matters, including fiduciary duties of directors and governance
  • Advises clients generally on federal and state securities law compliance, including securities offering, broker-dealer and investment adviser compliance, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act