Gail Neely advises clients on a variety of complex regulatory and corporate matters, including in connection with securities offerings.

Drawing on her sophisticated regulatory knowledge and in-depth experience, Gail delivers strategic and pragmatic counsel to broker-dealers, private equity firms, and public and private companies. Her company clients range from start-ups to soon-to-be-public companies to leading multinational corporations.

With experience spanning thousands of public offerings and private issuances, Gail helps clients successfully raise capital through an array of securities products. Her work includes a number of precedent-setting transactions, including the first-ever direct listing on behalf of Spotify. She also frequently advises on special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) initial public offerings and de-SPAC transactions.

Gail's practice includes:

  • Securities issuances, including initial and follow on public offerings, private placements, direct listings, SPAC and de-SPAC transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and employee benefit issuances
  • Regulatory considerations and securities transactions for broker-dealers and investment advisors
  • FINRA Corporate Finance analysis
  • US stock exchange initial and continued listing requirements
  • State Blue Sky laws

Gail also advises clients on a pro bono basis. Her work includes representing New York inmates seeking clemency in partnership with the Legal Aid Society. She has also conducted research for non-governmental organizations on issues relating to child marriage and transgender rights.

Gail is a member of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section sub-committees on the FINRA Corporate Finance Rules and Blue Sky Laws.

Gail has advised underwriter and issuer clients on over 500 public offerings and issuers on a comparable number of private issuances since joining the firm. Gail's recent experience includes representing:

  • Reddit in its US$748 million initial public offering
  • Spotify, the world’s largest global music streaming subscription service, in its groundbreaking direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange
  • The underwriters in the initial public offering of DouYu International Holdings Limited, a leading game-centric live streaming platform in China and a pioneer in the eSports value chain
  • The financial advisers to Slack Technologies, Inc. in its direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange
  • The underwriters in the initial public offering of Beyond Meat, Inc., a plant-based protein company
  • Sprout Social, a social media software management company, in its initial public offering
  • The underwriters in the initial public offering of SurveyMonkey Inc., a leading global provider of survey software products

Bar Qualification

  • New York

Education

  • JD, Fordham University School of Law, 2012
  • BA, Barnard College, 1995