Friday\, October 9\, 2026\, from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET
The Alumni in Residence program connects current HLS s tudents with accomplished HLS alumni for one-on-one career mentoring and ad vice. You’re invited to meet with Paul Choi J.D. '89 during their virtual o ffice hours. Sign up for a 20-minute Zoom appointment.
Paul Choi i s the global co-leader of Sidley’s Mergers and Acquisitions practice\, co-l eader of the firm’s Public Company Advisory group\, and a member of the fir m’s Executive Committee. He advises clients on mergers and acquisitions\, c orporate finance transactions and securities and corporate governance matte rs.
In the mergers and acquisitions area\, he focuses on public and p rivate mergers\, acquisitions\, dispositions\, spinoffs and joint ventures. His practice also includes counseling clients on takeover defense and prox y contests. Paul has advised on a broad range of mergers and acquisitions t ransactions\, from small private transactions to public multi-billion dolla r mergers. He has advised on dozens of public company merger deals\, includ ing representing First Data Corporation on its $29 billion acquisition by a n investor group controlled by KKR. He assisted eBay Inc. in its $2.0 billi on sale of Skype Technologies and represented Discover Financial Services i n its $600 million acquisition of The Student Loan Corporation. He advised International Game Technology in its $6.4 billion sale to GTECH S.p.A. He r epresented Recall Holdings Limited in its cross-border $2.6 billion sale to Iron Mountain Inc. He advised West Corporation in its $5.1 billion sale to funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management\, LLC. Paul advised Interna tional Game Technology PLC in its $6.3 billion transaction involving the sa le of its gaming and digital businesses to funds managed by Apollo. More re cently\, he is advising Western Union in its pending $US500 million acquisi tion of International Money Express\, Inc.
Paul has also advised on n umerous spinoff transactions\, including First Data on its $14 billion spin off of the Western Union Company and the $15.8 billion spinoff of Discover Financial Services from Morgan Stanley. Most recently\, he advised on the $ 10.2 billion spinoff of Yum China Holdings\, Inc. from Yum! Brands\, Inc.\, the $3.2 billion spinoff of Apergy Corporation from Dover Corporation\, th e $2.5 billion spinoff of Knowles Corporation from Dover Corporation\, the $2.0 billion demerger of Recall Holdings from Brambles Limited and the $900 million spinoff of Herc Holdings Inc. from the Hertz Global Holdings\, Inc . He also led the representation of KPMG LLP’s separation and spinoff of it s global management and information technology consulting business and the subsequent $2 billion initial public offering of that consulting business i n one of the largest IPO’s of a consulting practice ever done.
His pr actice also includes representing clients in hostile takeovers\, proxy cont ests and stockholder activism situations. He advised Barrett Resources in i ts response to Shell Oil Company’s hostile takeover attempt and the subsequ ent agreement by Barrett Resources to merge with The Williams Companies\, I nc. for $2.8 billion. He advised International Game Technology in a proxy c ontest by a stockholder activist\, and he represented Commercial Metals Com pany in its successful defense against a $1.7 billion hostile tender offer and proxy contest launched by Mr. Carl C. Icahn.
Other notable transa ctions include the representation of Andersen Worldwide\, S.C.\, the Swiss coordinating body for the independent Andersen professional firms\, on its global corporate matters and global wind-down.
In the corporate finan ce area\, he has represented issuers and underwriters on dozens of private and public equity and debt offerings. These capital markets transactions ha ve included a variety of initial public offerings\, including subsidiary or “carve-out” offerings in the energy\, technology\, financial services and real estate sectors\, and other acquisition financing transactions.
I n addition to his transactional work\, Paul advises public company clients on a broad range of corporate governance and general securities law matters \, including Sarbanes-Oxley\, board of director\, fiduciary duty\, audit co mmittee\, disclosure policy and related issues. He is a regular speaker at numerous seminars and conferences on topics relating to directors’ duties a nd M&A developments.
He graduated from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude) in 1989\, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and was awarded the Sears Prize. He earned his undergraduate degree in Eco nomics from Harvard College (magna cum laude) in 1986\, where he w as Phi Beta Kappa (junior year). Paul has served as President of the Harva rd Alumni Association and also as President of the Harvard Board of Oversee rs.
Paul served as a law clerk to the Honorable Laurence H. Silberman on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1989–1990.
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