James Ding

James Ding is a partner in Goodwin’s Business Law department and a member of its Technology and Life Sciences groups.

James focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, activist defense, and general corporate matters. He has extensive experience representing public and private acquirers and target companies, in domestic and cross-border transactions, and across technology, life sciences, industrials, financial services, and additional industries.

Since joining Goodwin in 2021, James’ M&A clients have included Ansys, Centerview Partners, Cvent, Forge Global, Innovium, iRobot, KVH Industries, Marlin Equity Partners, nexAir, Qatalyst Partners, Qualtrics, RBC Bearings, SailPoint, SYLVAIN, Synaptics, Thoma Bravo, and Zuora.

In July 2024, James was named a Law360 Rising Star for 2024 in the Technology category.

Prior to joining Goodwin, James was an associate in the New York office of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.

James’ notable transactions include representing:

• A special committee of Zuora in Zuora’s $1.7 billion sale to Silver Lake and GIC
• Deciphera Pharmaceuticals in its $2.4 billion sale to ONO Pharmaceutical
• AVROBIO in its merger with Tectonic Therapeutic
• Ansys in its $35 billion sale to Synopsys
• Centerview Partners as financial advisor to:
  • Alpine Immune Sciences in its $4.9 billion sale to Vertex Pharmaceuticals 
  • RayzeBio in its $4.1 billion sale to Bristol Myers Squibb
• Roko Labs in its sale to WestView Capital Partners
• A special committee of Cvent in Cvent’s $4.6 billion sale to Blackstone
• Qatalyst Partners as financial advisor to:
  • Smartsheet in its $8.4 billion sale to Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners 
  • Momentive Global in its $1.5 billion sale to Symphony Technology Group
• Qualtrics in its $12.5 billion sale to Silver Lake and CPP Investments
• Marlin Equity Partners in its and Altor’s NOK 5.8 billion acquisition of Meltwater
• nexAir in its majority stake sale to Linde
• Thoma Bravo in its:
  
  • $2.8 billion acquisition of Ping Identity
  • AUD 1.055 billion acquisition of Nearmap
  • $1.6 billion acquisition of NextGen Healthcare
• KVH Industries in its $55 million sale of its inertial navigation business to EMCORE, adoption of a stockholder rights plan, and cooperation agreement with Black Diamond Capital Management
• iRobot in its $1.4 billion sale to Amazon
• SYLVAIN in its sale to kyu
• SailPoint Technologies in its $6.9 billion sale to Thoma Bravo
• Forge Global in its business combination with Motive Capital Corp.
• Innovium in its $1.1 billion sale to Marvell
• Synaptics in its $550 million acquisition of DSP Group
• RBC Bearings in its $2.9 billion acquisition of the DODGE mechanical power transmission division of ASEA Brown Boveri
• Univision in its majority stake sale to Searchlight Capital and ForgeLight *
• Johnson & Johnson in its $6.5 billion acquisition of Momenta Pharmaceuticals *
• AXA in its $15.3 billion acquisition of XL Group *

* Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

A former schoolteacher, James serves on the board of trustees of Merrick Academy, a charter school in Queens, New York, and the board of directors of 82nd Street Academics, a non-profit educational agency also in Queens, New York.