Margaret T. Ahern

Maggie represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies and other privately owned and publicly traded companies in a wide range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, co-investments, and corporate governance matters.

Prior to joining Calfee in 2022, Maggie served as a legal extern to Justice Michael P. Donnelly of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

She previously served as a law clerk for a Cleveland law firm.

Maggie earned her J.D., summa cum laude, from the Cleveland State University College of Law, where she was a Dean’s Leadership Fellow and Executive Editor of the Journal of Law and Health, with an article selected for publication in the Fall 2021 issue. In addition, Maggie gained experience as a research assistant to Dean Lee Fisher at CSU College of Law. She earned her B.S. in Psychology, magna cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago.

Honors & Recognitions

• Ohio Super Lawyers, Ohio Rising Stars, Business/Corporate (2025)
• Dean’s Leadership Fellow, Cleveland State University College of Law
• CALI Excellence for the Future Award for “High A” in Legal Writing, Fall 2019 and Spring 2020

Education

J.D., summa cum laude, Cleveland State University College of Law, Dean’s Leadership Fellow, Journal of Law and Health Executive Editor, 2022

B.S., magna cum laude, Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, 2017

Experience

Corporate Transactions

• Calfee served as exclusive counsel to a multi-billion private equity firm client in its 2024 sale of all of the equity interests of a portfolio company to a global private equity firm.
• Calfee served as sole corporate legal counsel to a publicly traded, Fortune 1000 construction industry client on its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of two companies; in addition to negotiating two separate asset purchase agreements, the transaction involved negotiating numerous post-closing covenants and agreements to maximize the ongoing value of the transaction for Calfee’s client and coordinating the assumption of existing collective bargaining agreements and the post-closing operation of a union “shop.” (2024)
• Calfee served as sole corporate legal counsel to a publicly traded, Fortune 1000 construction industry client on its acquisition of substantially all the assets of a company located in the Southwestern U.S.; in addition to negotiating the asset purchase agreement, the transaction involved negotiating numerous post-closing covenants and agreements to maximize the ongoing value of the transaction for the client. (2024)
• Calfee served as lead counsel for a Washington, D.C.-based platform company of a New York state private equity firm in its acquisition of a Texas company. (2024)
• Calfee represented a general aviation company in its 2023 sale of all equity interests of a business line to a private equity investment firm.
• Calfee served as lead counsel for a Fortune 1000 publicly owned food industry manufacturing company in its 2023 $60 million sale of a business to a publicly owned company.
• Calfee served as exclusive counsel to a publicly traded Fortune 500 manufacturing company in its 2023 acquisition of substantially all of the fabrication-related assets of a Texas company.
• Calfee served as sole corporate legal counsel to a publicly traded, Fortune 1000 construction industry client on its acquisition of substantially all the assets of three separate companies; in addition to negotiating the asset purchase agreement, the transaction involved negotiating numerous post-closing covenants and agreements to maximize the ongoing value of the transaction for the client. (2023)
• Calfee served as exclusive counsel to a leading technology-enabled distributer and affiliate of a private equity firm client in its 2023 acquisition of substantially all of the assets of a California company.
• Calfee served as lead counsel to a multi-billion dollar private equity firm in its acquisition of a Midwestern technology company; the transaction involved a seller rollover of proceeds into the equity of the buyer and multiple employment agreements and equity incentive arrangements were negotiated and entered into at closing. The transaction also included a pre-signing creation of a buyer subsidiary, a pre-closing reorganization of the target entities' structuring and ownership, and the implementation of a post-closing, cross-border IP-licensing structure. (2023)
• Calfee served as sole corporate legal counsel to a publicly traded, Fortune 1000 company and coordinated input from employment specialists on post-closing restrictive covenants in a matter involving the client's acquisitions of 100% of the outstanding equity interests of a privately held company located on the East Coast. In addition to negotiating the stock purchase agreement, the transaction involved negotiating numerous post-closing covenants and agreements to maximize the ongoing value of the 2023 transaction for Calfee’s client.
• Calfee served as lead and sole legal counsel to a manufacturing portfolio company of a private equity firm in its 2023 acquisition of a woman-owned, California-based manufacturing business.
• Calfee acted as corporate counsel to a West Coast design-build multifamily residential construction subcontractor in connection with the 2023 sale of the Company to a middle-market private equity firm based in the East Coast with $2+ billion in assets under management.
• Calfee is serving as exclusive counsel to a publicly traded, multi-billion-dollar multinational holding company in its 2023 sale of all of the equity interests of a provider of extended warranty programs and services. This sale allowed the client company to realize value from the divestiture of a non-core asset of its business.
• Calfee served as sole corporate legal counsel to a publicly traded, Fortune 1000 company and coordinated input from employment specialists on post-closing restrictive covenants. Calfee advised the client in its 2022 acquisition of 100% of the outstanding equity interests of three related East Coast construction products installation companies. In addition to negotiating the stock purchase agreement, the transaction involved negotiating numerous post-closing covenants and agreements to maximize the ongoing value of the transaction for Calfee's client.
• Calfee served as sole corporate legal counsel to a publicly traded, Fortune 1000 company and coordinated input from employment specialists on post-closing restrictive covenants. Calfee advised the client in its 2022 acquisitions of substantially all of the assets of a Pennsylvania-based company. In addition to negotiating the purchase agreement, the transaction involved negotiating numerous post-closing covenants and agreements to maximize the ongoing value of the transaction for the client.

ESOP Representations

• Calfee served as special ESOP and corporate legal counsel to a privately held Ohio corporation and its shareholders. Calfee advised the client and its wholly owned subsidiaries on all aspects of planning for and implementing the terms of a 2023 sale of all of the company’s outstanding equity to a newly formed Employee Stock Ownership Plan, including reorganizing the consolidated group of companies, designing the ESOP, negotiating the terms of the sale of the client equity to the ESOP, designing and implementing ongoing incentive deferred compensation for different classes of employees and securing and negotiating bank financing. The transaction was important to the selling shareholders because it enabled the client company and its subsidiaries to maintain their culture, provide additional long-term benefits to their employees, and do estate planning for themselves.