Goodwin Partner Joshua Zachariah, practices in on all public company M&A matters for private equity and public company clients.

Joshua M. Zachariah

PartnerChair, Mergers & Acquisitions
Joshua M. Zachariah
New York
+1 212 813 8860

Josh Zachariah is chair of Goodwin’s Mergers & Acquisitions group. Josh has deep public M&A experience across the private equity, technology, and life sciences industries. His practice focuses on representing public and private acquirers and target companies in a variety of domestic and cross-border acquisition and disposition transactions, joint ventures, and other corporate matters. 

Josh has been repeatedly recognized as a leading transactional lawyer. In 2026, Chambers USA recognized him for Corporate/M&A in New York and Forbes named him to its list of America’s Top 250 Lawyers across all practice areas nationwide for the second consecutive year. One Chambers respondent noted, “Josh is an incredible M&A attorney. He is such a technically strong lawyer and knows how to cut through really complex issues and problem solve to get to the right outcome.” His other recent honors include being named a 2025 Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer and a Dealmaker of the Year Finalist by the New York Law Journal, as well as being selected as one of five M&A lawyers named a Law360 MVP in 2024. MergerLinks has also recognized Josh as both a Top Technology Lawyer and a Top Private Equity Lawyer in North America. He was also recently selected to serve on Law360’s 2026 Mergers & Acquisitions Editorial Board.

Experience

Josh handles all M&A matters for public company and private equity clients, including domestic and cross-border acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, strategic investments, SPAC transactions, take-privates, and Tax Receivable Agreement (TRA) buyout transactions. He also advises companies and their boards of directors in connection with corporate governance and shareholder activism matters.

Representative Matters

Professional Experience

Prior to joining Goodwin, Josh was most recently a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in San Francisco and New York, where he helped to build out the firm’s Public M&A group. Previous to Kirkland & Ellis, Josh was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York.

While in law school, Josh served as articles editor for the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

Professional Activities

Josh is a member of the Greater Boston, Northern California and New York chapters of the South Asian Bar Association.

Credentials

Education

JD

Georgetown University Law Center

BSEconomics

Duke University

(summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa)

Admissions

Bars

  • California
  • Massachusetts
  • New York

Recognition & Awards

  • 2026 Chambers USA: Corporate/M&A – New York
  • Law360’s 2026 Editorial Advisory Board for Mergers & Acquisitions
  • 2025 Forbes list of America’s Top 250 Lawyers
  • 2025 AmLaw Dealmaker of The Year
  • 2025 Finalist for Dealmaker of the Year by New York Legal Journal
  • 2024 Law360 MVP for Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Named by The Best Lawyers in America for Corporate Law
  • 2024 Mergerlinks Top Technology Lawyer in North America
  • 2019 “Top 40 Under 40” by the Daily Journal
  • 2019 Trailblazer by the Recorder
  • An elected Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel