The M&A Advisor announced that James E. Abbott, from Seward & Kissel LLP, is a recipient of the 2019 M&A Advisor Leadership Award. Mr. Abbott is to be honored, for his significant contribution to the mergers and acquisitions and finance industry, and inducted into the M&A Advisor Hall of Fame at the 18th Annual M&A Advisor Awards Gala on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at The New York Athletic Club in New York, NY.

Mr. Abbott is a Partner and Co-Head of the Business Transactions Group at New York based law firm Seward & Kissel LLP. Mr. Abbott has 35 years of professional experience that encompasses the full spectrum of global M&A and finance. Over the last 10 years, Mr. Abbott has been honored and recognized, by The M&A Advisor, with multiple awards in the Deal of the Year and Sector categories and Seward & Kissle also was honored as M&A Law Firm of the Year. In addition, Mr. Abbott has been a mentor to young professionals, resulting in an Emerging Leader Award for Seward & Kissel lawyers under the age of 40.

In 2018, The National Law Journal recognized Mr. Abbott as an M&A Trailblazer, among only 27 attorneys nationally who it determined were “movers and shakers in the legal industry who have made an impact in their sector through new types of strategies or innovative matters.” He is also highly ranked by Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500, Super Lawyers and Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Abbott has a BA from Colgate University and a JD from New York University School of Law.

“We are excited to present Jim Abbott with a 2019 M&A Advisor Leadership Award,” said Roger Aguinaldo, Founder of The M&A Advisor. “We've been presenting Leadership Awards to Distressed Investing, Turnaround, and M&A professionals for nearly 20 years. Jim has demonstrated throughout his career his unwavering commitment to consistent performance at the highest level. The industry has unquestionably been the beneficiaries of Jim's efforts.”

With the presentation of the 2019 M&A Advisor Leadership Award, Mr. Abbott joins a notable and exclusive community of industry leaders who have preceded him as lifetime and leadership award winners, including Wilbur L. Ross, Jack Butler, Charles Downer, Andrew W. Rice, Patricia Menendez-Cambo, Jim Bunn, Robert “Steve” Miller, Harvey R. Miller, John Reiss, Marshall Sonenshine, Van Conway, Sheila Smith, James H.M. Sprayregen, John Bolduc, and several others.