Biography
Linda Z. Swartz is the longtime chair of Cadwalader's Tax Group and a member of the firm's Management Committee. She focuses her practice on structuring complex global mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, joint ventures, special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transactions, and restructurings; on structuring investment vehicles and transactions for funds, family offices, partnerships and other asset managers; and on foreign tax planning strategies. In addition to being named one of 14 “Influential Women In Tax Law” by Law360, honored with an ALM Corporate Counsel Lifetime Achievement Award, and recently receiving the Marquis Who’s Who Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, Linda is consistently recognized as one of the leading tax lawyers in the country by independent commentators and industry publications, including Best Lawyers, Chambers USA, Euromoney, Expert Guides, International Tax Review, International Who’s Who, Law360, The Legal 500, Super Lawyers, Tax Directors Handbook, Who’s Who in American Law and World Tax, among other industry guides.
Linda has advised clients in numerous high-profile transactions, including:
- Procter & Gamble in the split-off and tax-free merger of its Specialty Beauty business with COTY in a Reverse Morris trust transaction; the tax-free exchange of its Duracell business for P&G shares held by Berkshire Hathaway; the sale of its Pringles business to Kellogg; the proposed tax-free distribution and acquisition of its Pringles business to Diamond Foods; and the tax-free distribution and immediate acquisition of its Folgers Coffee business by J.M. Smucker;
- Pfizer in its acquisitions of Wyeth, Warner-Lambert and Pharmacia, and the respective sales of its Capsugel and consumer health businesses;
- Pershing Square Tontine Holdings in its $4 billion agreement to acquire 10% of the outstanding ordinary shares of Universal Music Group from Vivendi;
- U.S. Treasury Department Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry with respect to the bankruptcy filings of General Motors and Chrysler;
- LyondellBasell as lead debtor’s counsel in its chapter 11 case; and
- Northwest Airlines in its chapter 11 cases.
Linda is widely published on transactional tax issues and frequently speaks on a broad range of topics, including each year at the PLI conferences on corporate and real estate tax issues. She is a Member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association Tax Section and has chaired its Tax-Free Reorganizations, Bankruptcy, Consolidated Returns, Real Property, and Tax Accounting and Basis Committees. She received her J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and her B.A. degree, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Bucknell University.