Woodrow Campbell, of counsel to the firm, is a legend in the private equity community, and credited with developing many of the techniques that are widely used in the private equity fund industry today. He serves the mutual fund industry as counsel to the three boards of independent directors of the BlackRock closed-end funds (aggregating more than $45 billion in assets under management) and counsel to the independent directors of the Fidelity Equity and High Income Funds (aggregating more than $1.2 trillion in assets under management).
Under Mr. Campbell’s leadership, Debevoise built one of the largest private equity fund practices in the world, whether measured by the number of funds, total committed capital or resources devoted to private equity fund formation. Since 1995, Debevoise has acted as counsel for sponsors of or investors in over 1,900 private equity funds with committed capital of more than $2 trillion. Mr. Campbell has been recognized by Private Equity International as one of the 30 most influential lawyers in global private equity.
Mr. Campbell has served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Board of Visitors of the Columbia Law School, and as a director and executive committee member of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association. He is a director and Chair Emeritus of the James Beard Foundation. Mr. Campbell has served as a member of the board of directors and executive committee of the Nightingale-Bamford School. He has served as a director of the Musica Russia Foundation and the Columbia Law Review. He is a former member of the Library Committee and the Photography Council of the Museum of Modern Art and of the Acquisition Committee of the International Center for Photography.
Mr. Campbell joined Debevoise in 1974 and became a partner in 1982. He received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1973, where he was an editor of the Columbia Law Review. Mr. Campbell received his B.A. from Yale College in 1966, with an intensive economics major. Prior to joining Debevoise, Mr. Campbell served as a law clerk for the Hon. Paul R. Hays, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1973-1974. He served in the United States Marine Corps (to rank of captain) from 1967-1970, including service as an infantry platoon leader in the Republic of Vietnam. He was employed after college as an analyst by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.