Our Team

James C. Woolery (Jim)

Founding Partner

Widely recognized as one of the country’s leading M&A counselors and has advised on transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $1.5 Trillion.

Jim Woolery is a seasoned advisor and principal, renowned for his involvement in major legal, financial, media and activist contests over the past two decades. Notably, as a senior partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, he played a key role in significant mergers & acquisitions, including the record-breaking TXU leveraged buyout. His expertise extends to many successful shareholder activism bids and defense, injunctions and various strategic advisories, representing clients such as Xerox, Dell, and AT&T among several others, in their most complex and high-stakes matters. His leadership during his time at J.P. Morgan & Co and as a hedge fund co-founder underscores his proficiency in market-shaping transactions and innovative M&A strategies. He has leveraged these powerful, multidisciplinary experiences into an outstanding record of success at Woolery & Co PLLC.

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Benjamin Howard

ASSOCIATE

Alumni | Kirkland & Ellis LLP

JD/MBA | New York University

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Derick Pillai

ASSOCIATE

Alumni | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

JD/MBA | Cornell University

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Katherine “Katie” Beall

Chief of Staff, Head of Business Development

Katie Beall is an attorney and a CPA with over 18 years of experience across a variety of industries in regulatory compliance, audit and consulting. She has worked in both the private and public sectors, including roles at Deloitte, PwC, Baker Tilly, Cantor Fitzgerald and BCG Partners.

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Mathew J. Saur (Matt)

Recognized as a Top 40 under 40 “Dealmaker” by The M&A Advisor, recipient of the 2022 Rising Star Award from Global M&A Network and named a “Top Influencer” by Family Capital.

Matt Saur co-founded Woolery & Co in 2020. He went on to become the founder of Ekpyrosis and continues to have a close, working relationship with the firm.