Cengage Learning: Represent the independent director of Cengage Learning, in connection with an exhaustive investigation and systematic analysis of the propriety of the prepetition acquisition of certain Cengage debt instruments by Apax Partners (Cengage’s majority owner) and Cengage itself. Cengage Learning filed for bankruptcy on July 2, 2013. On September 13, 2013, Willkie finalized and filed a comprehensive report addressing the complex issues that framed its investigation.

Educational Publishing Company: Represent a steering committee of first lien lenders of a leading educational Canadian publisher active in all areas of publishing (K-12, higher education, professional learning, business, industry and other markets) in connection with the publisher’s out-of-court restructuring efforts.

Edison Schools, Inc.: Played a key role in the accounting matters investigation of Edison, a for-profit education management organization that contracts with school districts for performance partnerships, alliances, and charter school establishment.

John Freshwater v. Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education: Represented the National Center for Science Education in the preparation and filing of its amicus curiae brief in support of an Ohio school district that fired a middle school science teacher over his inappropriate religious activity in the classroom —including teaching creationism.  The brief in support of the school board argued that the teacher’s materials and methods concerning evolution “have no basis in science and serve no pedagogical purpose.”  Ohio’s Fifth District Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the termination.  

Mount Sinai School of Medicine: Represented MSSM in negotiations and entry into a license agreement to settle multi-national patent infringement actions involving Shire’s Replagal product.

Ardian/AD Education: Represented Ardian in the acquisition of a majority stake in AD Education, a European education platform specialized in arts, digital and audiovisual.

Bridge Growth Partners/Finalsite: Represented Bridge Growth Partners, LLC in its acquisition of Finalsite, a leading SaaS-based learning and communications platform for U.S. and international schools.

Eurazeo/Glion Institute of Higher Education/Les Roches International School of Hotel Management: Represented Eurazeo on the financing aspects of its CHF 380 million acquisition of Glion Institute of Higher Education and Les Roches International School of Hotel Management.

Fidelity National Information Services, Inc./SunGard: Represented Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS) in its agreement to sell SunGard’s Public Sector and Education businesses to Vista Equity Partners for $850 million.

Finalsite/School Website: Represented Finalsite, a Bridge Growth Partners portfolio company, in its acquisition of School Website, the largest SaaS-based CMS software provider to schools in the UK.

Frontline Education/Thoma Bravo: Represented Frontline Education, an integrated insights partner serving more than 12,000 educational organizations across America, in its agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, with Insight Venture Partners retaining a minority stake in the company.

Insight Venture Partners/Ministry Brands: Advised Insight in its investment in Ministry Brands, a provider of end-to-end cloud-based technology for faith-based organizations and educational institutions.

iParadigms/Insight/Warburg Pincus: Represented iParadigms, a California-based anti-plagiarism software company, in its $752 million sale to Insight Venture partners and GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, from majority owner Warburg Pincus.

NYU Medical School, Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), University of Pennsylvania, the University of Colorado, Oregon Health Sciences University, the Max Planck Institute (Germany): Advised leading academic and research institutions in matters regarding  (a) the negotiation of license agreements for the licensing of patented technology of the universities to pharmaceutical  or biotechnology companies, (b) the negotiation of individual or multi-project sponsored research agreements between universities and industrial partners, or (c) the receipt by the universities as consideration for their licenses of various forms of equity interests in early stage companies formed to exploit the inventions made at the universities.

Warburg Pincus/ACAMS: Represented Warburg Pincus and the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) in the $330 million sale of ACAMS to Becker Professional Education.

SRIA/University of Bordeaux: Advised SRIA on a 30-year deal with a consortium to build and maintain 16 buildings owned by the University of Bordeaux.

St. John's University/Amity University: Represented St. John's University in the sale of its 170-acre Oakdale property to Amity University, a nonprofit international educational organization, and the leaseback of a portion of the campus.

St. John’s University/Relocation of Manhattan Campus: Represented at John’s University in its lease for 71,000 square-feet of space at 51 Astor Place, a new, Edward J. Minskoff, 12-story, 400,000-square-foot office building.

St. John's University/Sale of Manhattan Campus Property: Advised St. John's University in its agreement to sell its Manhattan campus property at 101 Murray Street in Tribeca to a joint venture of New York City real estate firms Fisher Brothers and The Witkoff Group.

Two Sigma/Lease of Cornell's Roosevelt Island Campus: Represented Two Sigma Investments, LP in the first third-party lease for space at The Bridge at Cornell Tech, a new building on Cornell University’s under-construction Roosevelt Island Technology Campus.

Direction des Fonds d’Epargne/Grenoble University: Represented Direction des Fonds d’Epargne on the PPP project for the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of three units of Grenoble University.

SUNY Albany: Provided senior executive representation on employment matters for SUNY Albany, one of the main institutions in New York State’s university system.