James M. Curley

Jim Curley, a partner in the firm’s Private Equity group, has been recognized as one of the leading attorneys in his field by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Mr. Curley's practice focuses primarily on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and the representation of private equity firms and their portfolio companies, and early and later stage growth companies in various industries including education, health care, manufacturing, retail and technology. His clients include many leading private equity firms, such as Charlesbank Capital Partners, Leeds Equity Partners and TA Associates.

Mr. Curley has also served on several of the firm’s committees over the years. Mr. Curley was also previously the chair of the Private Equity group’s Personnel Committee and “partner in charge” of Professional Development and Training for the firm’s Business Law Department.

Mr. Curley has extensive experience advising clients in a wide variety of transactions, including leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, mergers, carve-outs, growth equity financings, strategic investments, restructurings and dispositions. Mr. Curley’s recent representations include:

• Charlesbank Capital Partners in its sale of Varsity Brands to Bain Capital
• Leeds Equity Partners in its acquisition of Endeavor Schools
• Leeds Equity Partners in its acquisition of Fusion Education Group from Laird Norton Company
• Charlesbank Capital Partners in its acquisition of Galls, LLC from CI Capital
• Charlesbank Capital Partners and Peacock Foods in the sale of Peacock Foods to Greencore Group plc for approximately $750 million
• Charlesbank Capital Partners in its acquisition of Tecomet from Genstar Capital
• Charlesbank Capital Partners in its acquisition of Vestcom International from Court Square Capital Partners
• Charlesbank Capital Partners in its acquisition of Polyconcept North America from Invest Corp
• Charlesbank Capital Partners in its acquisition of Varsity Brands from an ESOP
• Leeds Equity Partners and SeatonCorp in connection with the sale of SeatonCorp to TrueBlue Inc. for $310 million
• TA Associates in connection with the sale of Numeric Investors to MAN Group PLC for up to $494 million
• Charlesbank Capital Partners in the acquisition, and subsequent recapitalization, of ARS Intermediate Holdings, a parent company of American Residential Services from investment funds affiliated with CI Capital Partners and Royal Palm Capital Partners
• Charlesbank Capital Partners and Tecomet in connection with the sale of Tecomet to Genstar
• Charlesbank Capital Partners and Webster Capital in their recent acquisition of OneStopPlus from Kering (f/k/a PPR)
• Leeds Equity Partners and Ex Libris Global Holdings Inc. in the sale of Ex Libris to Golden Gate Capital
• Charlesbank Capital Partners and Worldstrides in connection with the sale of Worldstrides to the Carlyle Group
• Leeds Equity Partners in connection with its acquisition of BarBri from Thomson Reuters

Mr. Curley rejoined Goodwin in 2000 after serving as general counsel and member of the senior management team of Sterling Autobody, where he was instrumental in helping the company grow from a pure start-up with no revenue, employees or locations to a company with revenues in excess of $100 million, more than 750 employees and 36 locations spanning eight states. Mr. Curley later represented Sterling Autobody in connection with its sale to Allstate Insurance.

Mr. Curley has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America Best Lawyers for his work in Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law 2022-2023.

Mr. Curley has, for several years, been selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. He has also been recognized on several occasions as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer "Rising Star" by Law & Politics and Boston magazine.

While attending Boston University School of Law, Mr. Curley was an Editor of the Boston University Law Review.