Brandon Messina is a Principal in the New York office and the firm’s Corporate Counsel. He advises a range of clients on communications strategies in special situations, including mergers and acquisitions, CEO succession, litigation support, and other sensitive legal and reputational matters, as well as on long-term corporate and media positioning.

Recent representation highlights include:

• Purdue Pharma in connection with litigation matters
• Tyson Foods and Time Inc. in connection with senior-level management changes
• HNA Group in connection with its investment in Hilton Worldwide
• Starwood Hotels in connection with its contested acquisition by Marriott
• Perrigo in connection with its successful defense against Mylan’s hostile takeover attempt
• Gannett in connection with the spinoff of its publishing business

Prior to joining Sard Verbinnen, Brandon was an attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. As a member of Simpson Thacher’s corporate practice, Brandon advised clients on an array of sophisticated credit transactions, with a focus on financings for private equity funds.

Brandon graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Political Science. He earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.