Michael D. Baird practices in the area of corporate law, with a focus on securities, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. Mr. Baird has experience negotiating and documenting a wide range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, securities offerings and debt financings, as well as a diverse range of commercial agreements.
Mr. Baird is a 2009 graduate of Columbia University School of Law, where he was a James Kent Scholar and articles editor of the Columbia Business Law Review. He earned an M.B.A. in Marketing from Villanova University and is a graduate of Princeton University, where he was a member of the cross country and track and field teams.
Areas of Practice
- Corporate and Transactional Law
- Intellectual Property
- Privacy Law
- Technology Law
- Emerging Companies
Admissions
- New York
Education
- Columbia Law School, J.D., 2009
- James Kent Scholar
- Articles Editor, Columbia Business Law Review - Villanova University, M.B.A., Marketing, 2006
- Princeton University, A.B., 2003
Experience
- Duane Morris LLP
- Partner, 2020-present - Satterlee Stephens LLP
- Partner, 2018-2020
- Associate, 2015-2018 - Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
- Associate, 2009-2015
Professional Activities
- New York City Bar Association
- Technology, Cyber and Privacy Law Committee, 2017-2022
Selected Speaking Engagements
Co-presenter, "Time to Think Bigger: Finding Value in Big Data Analytics," Webcast hosted by the Knowledge Group, April 2017
Moderator, "Big Data: Predictive Analytics Today and Tomorrow," Legal Network International Spring 2016 Meeting
Representative Matters
Advised Merrick Bank on purchasing $500 million in outstanding loan participations from the GreenSky program, which arranges consumer loans for home improvement projects. Merrick Bank’s parent company, CardWorks, Inc., as part of a consortium of investors, purchased the GreenSky platform from Goldman Sachs earlier this year, and Merrick Bank obtained an option to buy additional loan participations each month for a year after the closing, which could result in additional purchases totaling $240 to $360 million.
Advised Cardworks, Inc., a diversified consumer finance service provider, as part of a consortium of institutional investors including Sixth Street Partners and KKR, in acquiring the GreenSky lending platform from Goldman Sachs; GreenSky, the largest U.S. lending platform for home improvement loan originations by banks, is a leading technology company that powers commerce at the point of sale, and its scalable and proprietary technology platform enables merchants to provide frictionless promotional payment options to consumers.
Represented Evaxion Biotech A/S, a clinical-stage TechBio company specializing in developing AI-Immunology™ powered vaccines, in its $15 million public offering; H.C. Wainwright & Co. acted as the exclusive placement agent for the offering.