Andy Sommer

Background

About Andy Sommer

Andy Sommer recently retired as the General Counsel of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which he joined in 2020 following a year as a fellow at Harvard University in its Advanced Leadership Initiative. Prior to that, he was a partner and the General Counsel at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, the global law firm. Mr. Sommer is a director of the Public Rights Project and was, until recently, also a director and chair of the executive committee of EngenderHealth, a leading women’s global health organization. At Debevoise he acted on domestic and international acquisitions, dispositions and capital markets transactions involving both public and private companies for a variety of private equity sponsors, financial service and other companies. Mr. Sommer joined Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in 1983 and became a partner in 1991, the firm’s General Counsel in 2011, and retired in 2018. Mr. Sommer was based for more than eight years in the firm’s European offices, most recently in London from to 2005 where he served as the Managing Partner. He received his J.D. cum laude from New York University in 1983, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and of the Journal of International Law and Politics, and received his A.B. from Brown University in 1978. From 1978-1980, Mr. Sommer was the Press Officer/Editor of the U.S. Helsinki Watch Committee, now part of the Human Rights Watch. Mr. Sommer was a frequent author and speaker on legal developments affecting the private equity and insurance industries. He is a contributing author of The Private Equity Primer: The Best of the Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report and the Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report. Publications include “Seeing Through SWFs,” The Deal (January 2009), “Insurance Sidecars,” Private Equity Manager (October 2006), “Welcome to the Club,” The Deal (June 2006), “Vendor Due Diligence Reports - Is It ‘Put Up or Shut Up’ for Buyers in Europe,” The M&A Lawyer (January 2006) and “Private Equity Investments in Insurance Companies,” Insurance and Investment Management M&A (2008). This profile may constitute attorney advertising.