Brittany Ellenberg

Brittany Ellenberg advises companies on labor and employment matters arising out of complex U.S. and multinational corporate transactions, including negotiating and drafting provisions of purchase agreements, assessing targets’ labor and employment law compliance and risks, advising on collective bargaining agreements, negotiating and drafting sale of business non-compete agreements, and developing strategies to retain key executives. Ms. Ellenberg counsels clients on compliance with various labor laws, such as implementing reductions in force and classifying independent contractors. She has negotiated and drafted sophisticated employment, consulting, separation and restrictive covenant agreements. Ms. Ellenberg has experience representing clients in a wide range of transactions, including:

• Social Capital Hedosophia, a special purpose acquisition company, in its $6.6 billion merger with online personal finance company Social Finance, Inc.; its $5 billion merger with Opendoor Labs Inc.; and its $3.7 billion merger with Clover Health Investments, a Medicare Advantage insurer;
• BuzzFeed, Inc. in its acquisition of HuffPost from Verizon Media;
• Centene Corporation in its $17.3 billion acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, Inc.;
• Viagogo in its $4.05 billion acquisition of StubHub from eBay;
• ION Media in its $2.65 billion acquisition by the E.W. Scripps Company;
• Coty Inc. in its transactions with Kim Kardashian West’s and Kylie Jenner’s beauty businesses;
• Gilead Sciences, Inc. in its $4.9 billion acquisition of Forty Seven, Inc.;
• Intel in the $1 billion acquisition of its smartphone modem business by Apple;
• PayPal Holdings, Inc. in its acquisition of Honey Science Corporation, a technology platform for shopping, for $4 billion;
• Honeywell in its $1.3 billion acquisition of Sparta Systems, a provider of enterprise-quality management software for the life sciences industry; and
• The Carlyle Group in its acquisition of a significant equity stake in SB Projects, which represents talent such as Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Drake, Kanye West and Usher.

Ms. Ellenberg has counseled, litigated and managed dispute resolution in the following matters:

• drafted an amici curiae brief to the Supreme Court challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel and immigration from six majority-Muslim countries;
• prepared bail applications in conjunction with the ACLU for the release of individuals at the Adelanto Immigrant Detention Center due to COVID-19 conditions;
• secured asylum and employment authorization for an asylum-seeker from Uganda persecuted based on her sexual orientation;
• successfully argued a wage and hour case on behalf of the Los Angeles Urban League in a California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement hearing;
• led successful adoption hearings for eight children in conjunction with the Alliance for Children’s Rights; and
• organized, staffed and completed several client petitions for a Legal Name and Gender Marker Change Clinic in conjunction with Bet Tzedek Legal Services.

Ms. Ellenberg received the 2019 Pro Bono Award from the Skadden Los Angeles office for her pro bono legal services. She serves as the chair of Skadden’s West Coast LGBTQ+ Affinity Group and is on the Steering Committee for the firmwide Immigration Impact Project. She also sits on the board of directors for the Point Foundation.