Devon Willitts Email & Phone Number

New York, New York, United States

New York, United States And Toronto, Canada

• Supported a successful $17M Series A raise by partnering with our CEO to aggregate key company metrics and refine our company vision, creating a pitch deck for potential investors.
• Leading ideation, prioritization and launch of 2 major product initiatives, driving forward roadmaps and feature backlogs while considering stakeholder input, technical capabilities and alignment with product.
• Managed a team of 11 software engineers and 1 designer to execute a core strategic pivot, going from zero-to-one by building a web platform that enables an end-to-end contract review and negotiation experience.
• Managed a team of 4 software engineers from ideation to launch of an internal implementation efficiency tool, resulting in a 28% decrease in cycle time for our legal engineers.
• Key influencer of the development of LexCheck’s proprietary NLP coding language, which makes possible our contract review and revision capabilities and forms the foundation of every LexCheck product.
• Responsible for creating over 20 contract playbooks for clients for various commercial contract types, consulting with clients to understand their legal positions and underlying business priorities.

New York, New York, United States

• Represented Fortune 500 clients involving transactions in excess of $28B in aggregate deal value. Notable transactions include: $1.9B IPO of Warner Music Group; $2.1B acquisition of Supreme Holdings by V.F..
• Managed teams of junior attorneys and paralegals to conduct due diligence reviews to assess the legal risks associated with the contemplated acquisition of target companies
• Conducted multiple compliance reviews of marketing materials for IPOs and other transactions in media, financial services and pharmaceutical industries to ensure compliance with SEC and FINRA regulations.
• Coordinated stakeholder teams (e.g., client legal teams, financial institutions, shareholders and opposing counsel) and hundreds of legal documents in a fast-paced environment to close ~10 major M&A transactions.
• Prepared and delivered presentations on legal risks of acquisitions to senior leadership at client companies.
• Negotiated and drafted transaction documents, including acquisition agreements, ancillary agreements, disclosure schedules, term sheets and SEC disclosure.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Supported a successful pre-seed fundraise of $220K, collaborating with the CEO and COO (co-founders) of Atomos, a spacecraft company developing nuclear-powered propulsion systems, to refine our business model and.
• Conducted market research into the growing space transportation industry and cislunar economy to determine market size, growth rates and new trends.
• Prepared pitch decks and other informational decks to convey our objectives, risks, and market opportunity to potential investors.

New York, New York, United States

• Responsible for creating a report and presentation for a foreign client, designed to provide an overview of legal considerations related to M&A in the United States.
• Worked with an M&A team to determine an appropriate sale process for a highly contentious and novel sale of a niche financing firm, with the goal of obtaining the highest all-cash bid for the client.
• Assisted with due diligence and various document review for a $300 million notes offering for Kannemetal Inc.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Conducted due diligence, legal research, and document review for a broad range of corporate transactions.
• Analyzed a joint bid agreement and client documents in order to draft a shareholder agreement for the acquisition of a state-owned enterprise.
• Attended client meetings and prepared closing checklists for various asset purchases.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Assisted with research and writing for the seminal Canadian legal text on sentencing law (Sentencing 9th Edition).
• Analyzed 847 cases relevant to sentencing law from all Canadian court jurisdictions, summarizing significant cases.
• Revised and updated the sentencing textbook, focussing on chapters discussing how judges determine the range of a sentence for various types of convictions.

• Synthesized course materials to create quizzes for introductory legal courses (e.g. Public Law, Constitutional Law).
• Aggregated and analyzed enrollment data and created Excel worksheets, tables and graphs which were then used to make decisions regarding course offerings, hiring of instructors, and other growth opportunities for.
• Reviewed sensitive information such as course grades, exams, class assignments, and instructor billing contracts.

Vancouver, BC

• Tutored students in real estate finance and accounting basics, guiding them through the quantitative mechanics and qualitative concepts necessary to complete their assignments and succeed in their courses.
• Assisted with several real estate, strata management, and mortgage brokerage licensing courses, creating assignment and exam questions of varying complexity.
• Performed research related to course materials and local real estate trends for academics and industry professionals.

Vancouver, BC

• Elected by 80+ members to oversee the management of an $80,000 budget.

• Motivated a team of 8 employees to actively engage customers, which led to a $20,000 increase over the previous summer in annual sales in the Garden Centre.
• Ordered merchandise, coordinated product deliveries, and revamped the layout and design of the Garden Centre department.

• Provided excellent customer service by actively engaging customers, creating a positive shopping environment, and effectively dealing with any problems and concerns voiced by customers.

Winnipeg, Canada Area

• Tutored young students in chess strategies, openings, endings and other skills.

Juris Doctor (J.D.), Faculty Of Law

Activities and Societies: University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review (Assistant Editor, 2016-2017; Senior Associate Editor, 2017-2018).

Master Of Business Administration (M.B.A.)

Activities and Societies: JD/MBA Student's Association (VP Alumni Relations, 2018-2019); Rotman Management Consulting Association.

Juris Doctor (J.D.)

Activities and Societies: Transnational Legal Theory Journal (Junior Editor); Law in Action Within Schools (Mentor)

Bachelor Of Commerce (Bcom), Finance And Entrepreneurship

Activities and Societies: Beta Theta Pi (President, 2014-2015); Finance Club (Member)▪ Dean's Honour List (GPA +80%), 2012-2015

Commerce

Activities and Societies: Finance Club (Member)

High School Diploma