Chelsea Darnell Age: 38 Law Firm: Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Practice Area: M&A Title: Partner Location: New York Law School: University of Pennsylvania Law School Please describe two of your most substantial, recent wins in practice. One of the most rewarding parts of my practice is developing deep relationships with clients while helping them negotiate and execute complex transactions to achieve their business objectives. Helping Keurig Dr Pepper structure and navigate its $18.4 billion cross-border acquisition of JDE Peetâs over the past yearâand continuing to advise on their plans to spin off the combined companyâs coffee and refreshment beverage businesses into two standalone public companiesâhas been a recent highlight for me. I have also led the team advising IonQ, a leading quantum-computing company, on a series of six acquisitions and two university partnerships over a 12-month period. Iâve worked closely with the IonQ team, and my deep knowledge of their business and objectives has allowed me to help them strategically execute transformative transactions that are changing the quantum-computing and quantum-networking landscape. Highlights have included helping IonQ navigate a $1.075 billion cross-border acquisition of Oxford Ionics to accelerate its development of more powerful and high-fidelity quantum computers, a $1.8 billion cash-and-stock acquisition of semiconductor company SkyWater Technology, and acquisitions of Capella Space, Skyloom Global, Vector Atomic, and Seed innovations. Any one of these transactions would have been fun and challenging on its own, and I am very proud of the work weâve done to help the IonQ team with all of these acquisitions over such a short period of time. What was your favorite law school class? Did it shape your practice interests? My favorite law school class was, perhaps unsurprisingly, Corporations. I was very lucky to have the late Michael Wachter as my professor, and signing up for