Vaughn has strong experience with international and domestic clients whom he advises on complex mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing, and international lending and private equity

Venable LLP announced that Christopher M. Vaughn has joined the firm’s growing Corporate Practice as counsel in the Baltimore office. Mr. Vaughn’s practice focuses on complex domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and debt and equity financings in a range of industries, including energy, banking and finance, consumer products, transportation, and real estate.

Mr. Vaughn previously served in the U.S. diplomatic corps as a foreign service officer in the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he was the primary transactional counsel for Power Africa and the Development Credit Authority in Ghana, West Africa. Prior to this, he was associate general counsel in the Office of the General Counsel of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid organizations, where he was primary transactional counsel for East Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia and helped establish their social impact investing program. He also represented CRS before U.S. government agencies regarding U.S. sanctions and export matters and served as a member of the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy – Sanctions Subcommittee.  Prior to CRS, Mr. Vaughn was an associate in the Private Equity and Finance group at Vinson & Elkins in New York and Beijing and a senior associate in the Corporate group at DLA Piper in Baltimore. Prior to his legal career, Mr. Vaughn served in the United States Peace Corps in Kenya as a microfinance advisor.

“Christopher’s broad, sophisticated experiences are a perfect complement to our team,” said Charles J. Morton, Jr., chair of the firm’s Corporate Practice. “As we continue to build upon the successes of our nationally recognized, middle-market M&A practice, his diverse background, particularly in international transactions, will be very helpful to our clients as they continue to grow.”

Courtney G. Capute, partner-in-charge of the firm’s Baltimore office, said, “Our Baltimore office provides cross-practice representation to diverse clients who focus on today’s most pressing issues facing the corporate sector. With the addition of top-tier talent like Christopher, Venable will continue to strengthen and provide focused excellence and full-service corporate capabilities to meet the needs of our clients.”

Commenting on his move to Venable, Mr. Vaughn said, “I am excited to rejoin some of my former law firm colleagues who are now at Venable. It feels like home already. I hope that my corporate skills in combination with my international legal work will add a culturally informed component to an already exciting corporate group and contribute to the terrific organic growth that the firm has been enjoying in recent years.”

Mr. Vaughn received his J.D., cum laude, from Tulane Law School in 2002, with a focus in International Business Law and China; his MIA, cum laude, in International Economic Policy and Asian Studies and Chinese from Columbia University in 2002; and his B.A., cum laude, in Business Management and Economics from Washington College in 1993.