Christine M. O'Connor
She/Her/Hers
Partner
coconnor@hselaw.com
tel: 585.231.1337
fax: 585.232.2152
Christine’s practice concentrates on private equity, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and general corporate matters. Her clients include private equity funds, private equity-backed companies, venture capital funds, fundless sponsors, family offices, individual investors, start-ups and strategic buyers, sellers and investors. Christine is well-versed in the financial services, software and tech, manufacturing and product distribution industries.
Her extensive experience includes:
- Leveraged buyout transactions, including portfolio company acquisitions and dispositions, management employment and equity compensation arrangements and recapitalizations.
- Representing venture capital funds and companies in connection with convertible note, common stock and preferred stock financings.
- Representing companies in a wide variety of corporate governance and commercial contract matters.
Prior to joining Harter Secrest & Emery, Christine worked for the Cleveland, Ohio office of Jones Day.
Professional & Civic Affiliations
- Member of the Board of Directors, South East Area Coalition
- Member, Monroe County Bar Association
Honors & Awards
- Recognized by Chambers USA from 2016-2021 in the field of Corporate/M&A (Upstate NY)
- Named to the Chambers USA “Up and Coming” List in 2019-2020
- Named to the Chambers USA “Associates to Watch” List from 2016-2018
- Recipient, “Forty Under 40” Award, Rochester Business Journal, 2017
- Recipient, “Up and Coming Attorneys” Award, The Daily Record, 2017
- AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale‐Hubbell
- Selected to the Upstate New York Super Lawyers Rising Stars list, 2017-2020
- Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© for Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships); Mergers and Acquisitions Law
- Vanderbilt University Law School
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Notes Editor, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Admissions
- New York
Clerkship
- Judicial Extern to the Honorable Aleta Trauger, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee
- Judicial Extern to the Honorable David Alan Ezra, U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii
Education
- Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D., Honors Scholar
- Carnegie Mellon University, B.S., Chemistry, with high honors