Barbara L. Becker is the Chair and Managing Partner of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Before taking on this position, she co-chaired the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group for more than ten years and was instrumental in establishing and leading the firmwide Diversity Committee.
In her current role, Barbara advises companies on important business and legal matters, including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, joint ventures, and general corporate issues. She provides counsel to boards of directors and special committees of public companies and represents corporations and investors, both domestic and international, in their M&A endeavors.
A distinguished M&A attorney, Barbara has received recognition from several prestigious publications, including Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Crain’s New York Business, IFLR1000, Law360, Lawdragon, New York Law Journal, The AmLaw Daily, The Best Lawyers in America®, The Deal, The Legal 500 US, The National Law Journal, and Who’s Who Legal. She was honored as Managing Partner of the Year at the 2023 American Lawyer Industry Awards and received the 2022 AJC Judge Learned Hand Award.
Barbara serves on the Board of Trustees at New York University School of Law (Executive Committee) and is an inaugural member of the Advisory Board for the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at the same institution. Additionally, she is a member of the Welcome.US CEO Council and the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. Previously, she chaired the New York City Bar’s Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Control Contests Committee.
She obtained her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law in 1988 and earned her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University in 1985, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
