Ezra Borut is a corporate partner based in New York and a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group and National Security practice.
Mr. Borut regularly represents private equity and corporate clients in a broad range of U.S. domestic and cross-border transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and restructurings.
He has advised on transactions across a range of industries, with particular experience in the industrials, chemicals and materials, transportation, energy and natural resources sectors. He also regularly advises publicly traded and privately held clients identify and mitigate risks of national security reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Mr. Borut was resident in the firm’s Tokyo office for four years, where he served as the managing partner of the office. Prior to residence in Tokyo, he was based in the firm’s New York office, where he served on the firm’s Management Committee for three years and served as Deputy Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department.
Mr. Borut is a frequent author and speaker on transactional and national security topics. He has authored several Debevoise client updates, including “Getting Preemption Right: Tips for Drafting Clear and Effective Preemption Right Provisions” (November 2025); “CFIUS 2024 Annual Report in Context: Calm Before the ‘America First’ Storm?” (September 2025); “President Trump Uses CFIUS to Unwind 2020 Chinese Acquisition of Jupiter Systems” (July 2025); “Trump’s America First Investment Policy: Promoting Allied Investment, Restricting Adversary Investment” (February 2025); “National Security Update: Court Upholds Divest-or-Ban Law Impacting TikTok U.S. Operations” (December 2024); “To File, or Not to File: The Changing Calculus for Voluntary CFIUS Filings” (December 2024); and “ILPA Publishes New Guidance on Continuation Funds” (June 2023) and “Navigating the Nuances of Continuation Funds” (December 2020).
Mr. Borut was an intern in the law firm of Nishimura & Partners (now Nishimura & Asahi) in Tokyo from June to December 1998. Mr. Borut joined Debevoise in 1996. He received his B.A. cum laude from Yale University in 1991, where he majored in East Asian Studies with a Japanese concentration. He received his J.D. with honors from The University of Chicago Law School in 1996. Mr. Borut is a recipient of the Lawyers Alliance for New York 2013 Cornerstone Award and sits on the Pro Bono Committee.