David Forney is an M&A, strategic joint venture specialist and a “company side” corporate lawyer. For over 30 years, David has represented industry parties in hundreds of complex M&A, joint venture, and other strategic transactions. Today, David primarily represents large companies in M&A, strategic joint venture, alliance, and other transactions with competitors and strategic partners, primarily on the company side. He also acts as outside general counsel adviser to various clients.
David represents businesses on core business transactions primarily of a strategic nature. He has developed close working relationships with management, in-house counsel, in-house business development teams, internal due diligence teams, and subject matter legal experts. David has experience with internal approval processes, accounting and reporting matters, competition concerns, and risk tolerances unique to company side participants. He has 30 years of legal experience representing public and private industry participants, on top of a four-year foundation as a CPA at Price Waterhouse (now PWC).
David’s experience includes domestic and international strategic joint venture and alliance transactions for public and private clients, such as Carrier Corporation, PPG Industries, Inc., Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corporation, World Wrestling Entertainment (the “WWE”), and the Voest-Alpine unit of Siemens. For more than 20 years, David has been approved M&A counsel for United Technologies Corporation (UTC) and its business units for transactions under $1 billion and has handled more M&A transactions for UTC business units than any other outside lawyer during the past 20 years. He has completed over 150 transactions for Carrier Corporation, UTC Fire and Security, Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Sundstrand, UTC’s Innovation Business Development Division, and the UTC parent company in various M&A, joint venture, restructuring, and commercial transactions.
David represented United States Filter Corporation in most of its strategic acquisitions during its high-growth years before it was sold to Vivendi of France. David also represented Liberty Tire Recycling, the largest tire recycler in North America, in more than 75 strategic transactions ranging up to $350 million and represented Liberty Waste Services, formerly in the municipal solid waste business, in more than 140 strategic transactions ranging up to $325 million.
David’s strategic transactional expertise spans a broad range of industries, including HVAC, aerospace, coal mining, metallurgical coke production, steel mill maintenance, software engineering, vehicle coatings for auto manufacturers, OEM product distribution, industrial explosion protection, home security monitoring, fire fighter training systems, industrial power cell components, grand prix race tracks, electric hand dryers, water filtration systems, energy conservation services, fuel cell patent portfolios, automobile manufacturers, waste hauling, transfer stations and landfills, recycling, supply chain logistics, fund-of-funds investment companies, office and storage space systems, hospital patient and property tracking systems, commercial engineering, software engineering, interstate highway paving, school bus transportation, movie theatre chains, and even ice cream novelty products.
In addition to domestic and international strategic joint ventures and alliances, transaction forms include severe carve-outs, squeeze-out mergers, combined asset, stock and merger transactions, 50/50 partnership buyouts, options to acquire privately held businesses, and mergers.
David’s primary office is in Washington D.C.
- Member, District of Columbia Bar Association
- Member, Maryland Bar Association
- Member, Pennsylvania Bar Association
- Member, Virginia Bar Association
- Joint Venture Agreements: Advanced Structuring, Drafting and Negotiating Strategies; Center for Competitive Management (C4CM) Webinar.
- Structuring Successful Joint Ventures: Navigating Formation, Capital, Control and Other Complexities; Strafford Webinar.
Prior to attending law school, David practiced for four years at PWC (formerly Price Waterhouse) in Pittsburgh, PA as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). David previously taught courses in accounting at Carnegie Mellon University and Point Park College as an adjunct professor and authored BNA Tax Management Portfolio 19-7, Bad Debts. Prior to joining K&L Gates in 1988, David practiced tax and corporate law for three years at Dechert in Philadelphia, PA.
For most of his adult life, David has been involved with organizations benefiting children. He is a friend and contributor to the Children’s Inn on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, which provides the last hope for children who have exhausted all known conventional treatments. David was also a director for the Three Rivers Young People’s Orchestra in Pittsburgh for 6 years.
