Christine M. O'Connor
Partner
coconnor@hselaw.com
tel: 585.231.1337
fax: 585.232.2152
Christine’s practice concentrates on private equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, telecommunications and general corporate matters. Her clients include private equity funds, private equity-backed companies, venture capital funds, fundless sponsors, family offices, individual investors, start-ups and strategic buyers, sellers and investors. Christine is well‐versed in the financial services, software and tech,
telecommunications, manufacturing and product distribution industries.
Her extensive experience includes:
- Leveraged buyout transactions, including portfolio company acquisitions and dispositions, senior, mezzanine, equity and seller financings, management employment and equity compensation arrangements, recapitalizations and portfolio company add‐on acquisitions.
- Representing venture capital funds, fundless sponsors, family offices and individual investors in connection with convertible note, common stock and preferred stock financings.
- Guiding start-ups from formation to exit and extensive experience in corporate clean‐up and corporate reorganization.
- Representing start-ups and strategic buyers, sellers and investors in a wide range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, venture capital financings, regulatory filings with the New York State Public Service Commission and commercial contracts.
Prior to joining Harter Secrest & Emery, Christine worked for the Cleveland, Ohio office of Jones Day.
Professional & Civic Affiliations
- Chair of the Board of Directors, South East Area Coalition
- Member, Monroe County Bar Association
- CLE Co‐Chair, Mergers & Acquisitions Seminar, June 2015
- Co‐Chair, Capital Strategies and Exit Planning for Successful Businesses Seminar, March 2015
- CLE Chair, Nuts & Bolts‐Evolution of a Business Seminar, May 2012
Honors & Awards
- Recognized by Chambers USA from 2016-2020 in the field of Corporate/M&A
- Named to the Chambers USA “Up and Coming” List in 2019-2020
- Named to the Chambers USA “Associates to Watch” List from 2016-2018
- Recipient, “Forty Under 40” Award, Rochester Business Journal, 2017
- Recipient, “Up and Coming Attorneys” Award, The Daily Record, 2017
- AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale‐Hubbell
- Selected to the Upstate New York Super Lawyers Rising Stars list, 2017-2020
- Selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Mergers and Acquisitions Law
- Vanderbilt University Law School
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Notes Editor, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Presentations
- “Steps to Start a New Business,” Eyes on the Future Radio Show, Greater Rochester Enterprise, January 2017
- CLE Speaker, “Indemnification in Mergers and Acquisitions,” December 2012
- CLE Speaker, “Escrow Services: Protecting Clients, Mitigating Risk,” February 2012
Admissions
- New York
Clerkship
- Judicial Extern to the Honorable Aleta Trauger, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee
- Judicial Extern to the Honorable David Alan Ezra, U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii
Education
- Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D., Honors Scholar
- Carnegie Mellon University, B.S., Chemistry, with high honors