Steven J. Pacini represents private equity sponsors, growth companies, and global companies in enterprise-critical disputes arising from mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and complex commercial relationships.

Steven combines deal fluency and a trial lawyer’s focus to resolve disputes that threaten key transactions, products, and business relationships. He advises clients across sectors, including healthcare, technology, and financial services, on a range of high-stakes matters involving:

  • M&A and private equity disputes, including earnout and milestone claims, purchase price adjustments, and indemnification
  • Governance and founder matters, including fiduciary duty, control contests, business divorce, and internal investigations
  • Trade secrets, restrictive covenants, and executive mobility litigation
  • Commercial and technology disputes involving SaaS, fintech, data security, and platform agreements
  • Insurance recovery and risk transfer strategy
  • Product liability and mass tort defense

Steven advises clients from deal to dispute, providing practical deliverables, crisp plans, and decisive advocacy for disputes that arise across deals, people, and technologies. A trusted strategic advisor, he works closely with founders, executives, and boards to identify and mitigate potential areas of conflict before they escalate. He also regularly helps clients secure emergency relief and guides companies through expedited arbitrations and matters before the Delaware Court of Chancery and American Arbitration Association (AAA)/JAMS.

He serves on the board of the Youth Advocacy Foundation (Massachusetts) and on the Massachusetts Advisory Council of the New England Foundation. He also maintains an active pro bono practice in juvenile defense.

Steven’s representative clients include:

Investors/Private Equity Firms

  • ABRY Partners
  • Boathouse Capital
  • BV Investment Partners
  • Flagship Pioneering
  • Great Hill Partners
  • Harvest Partners Structured Capital
  • H.I.G. Capital
  • Old Ironsides Energy
  • Perella Weinberg Growth Equity
  • Westview Capital Partners

Emerging and Global Companies

  • AbbVie
  • Boston Scientific
  • Care.com
  • CCC Intelligent Solutions
  • Charles River Systems
  • Cox Automotive
  • Honeywell
  • LogMeIn
  • International Motors
  • Philip Morris International
  • Seres Therapeutics
  • TB12

His experience includes representing:

  • Shareholders in a confidential AAA arbitration addressing a nine-figure milestone and commercially reasonable efforts claims following a life sciences acquisition
  • High-growth technology and payments platforms in obtaining emergency injunctive relief in federal court to enforce restrictive covenants and protect trade secrets
  • Sponsor-backed clients on expedited Delaware Chancery proceedings, resolving earnout and indemnity disputes on compressed schedules
  • Global manufacturers on coordinated national product litigation platforms, including strategy, key hearings, and jury trials
  • A venture-backed technology company in insurance claims and recovery following a cyber incident and related class action

Bar Qualification

  • Massachusetts

Education

  • JD, Boston University School of Law
    cum laude
  • BS, University of Connecticut
    summa cum laude