Minh-Chau Le

The daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Le began her career working for a United Nations agency dedicated to aiding and protecting refugees on the border of Rwanda and Burundi. More than just a job, to Le it was a calling.

“That was to be my life,” she said.

But after a few years, she realized that the danger, stress, low-level corruption and pace of the work was not a good fit for her. When she returned Stateside for a law degree at Columbia University, she began to rethink her career.

“I summered at a law firm and thought, ‘I get deals. This clicks,’” she said. “Instead of my long-term career at the UN, I ended up being a corporate lawyer.”

The Ropes & Gray partner has become known for her work on ambitious and complex private equity transactions.

This year she represented Advent International, a global private equity investor, in both its original and renegotiated deal to acquire cybersecurity company Forescout Technologies.

The initial $1.9 billion deal was inked in early February. Advent walked away from the deal before it was scheduled to close in May, citing Forescout’s failure to meet certain operational and financial obligations under the agreement. Forescout sued to get Advent to complete the deal.

Le and her team quickly pivoted to guide Advent through the litigation while simultaneously trying to renegotiate the deal. Just days before the start of the trial, Advent and Forescout signed a restructured $1.6 billion deal.

Getting that close to a broken deal emphasized to Le why she approaches her practice with a high degree of cooperation.

“Because negotiating contracts in the vacuum of trust is much more difficult and expensive,” she said. “You can still get good results, which we did, but it’s not nearly as efficient.”

Perhaps more typical of her practice, Le has represented TPG Capital and its portfolio company, WellSky, in several transactions, including TPG’s original acquisition of the health care software solutions company in 2016 and three subsequent add-ons.

She has watched WellSky mature, from small regional player to a top company in the industry. This kind of growth – from a $500 million company to one valued at more than $3 billion – only happens “through the magic of private equity,” she said.

“Building these relationships, watching these folks evolve and being their advocate – that’s what has kept me at this job.”

— Jennifer Chung Klam