Shareholder activism is an increasingly common occurrence in corporate governance, often involving calls for changes in strategy, resource allocation, personnel, or other areas. Within this field, Derek Oliver Zaba has built a career spanning corporate law, investment management, shareholder engagement, and corporate defense.
Zaba was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, and studied at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned a B.S. in 1998, graduating cum laude, and an M.B.A. through the Olin Business School. He later attended Stanford Law School, receiving a J.D. in 2004 and graduating Order of the Coif. His education combined systems science and mathematics with finance and law. While at Washington University, he led university teams that won the highest award at the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) international Mathematical Contest in Modeling in consecutive years.
After beginning his career at Capital One Financial Corporation, he held legal internships with Linklaters and Cravath, Swaine & Moore before joining Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as an associate in 2004. At Wachtell, he handled contested mergers and acquisitions, proxy contests, and corporate governance matters. In 2006, he moved to Scoggin Capital Management as a senior associate and analyst, working on event-driven investments involving significant corporate change. The move added an investor-side perspective to his legal training. This period established a legal foundation for later work on disputes involving shareholders and boards.
In 2012, Zaba joined Voce Capital Management and became a partner, participating in activist investments in US equities. He joined CamberView Partners in 2015, moving into shareholder engagement and corporate governance advice. He eventually led the firm’s activism and contested M&A practice, advising companies across industries and market capitalizations. The combination of investor and legal experience became central to his later work with public companies facing activist pressure. It also gave him experience on both sides of campaigns, from investment decisions to board-level responses.
In March 2019, after PJT Partners had acquired CamberView, Reuters reported that Zaba would join Sidley Austin as a partner and co-head of its activism defense practice with eminent shareholder activism practitioner Kai Liekefett. Zaba joined Sidley’s global M&A and Private Equity group later that year. His work centers on shareholder activism, contested and complex M&A, and corporate governance, with advice directed to boards and senior executives of public companies. The practice also covers proxy contests, takeover defense, and shareholder engagement.
The American Lawyer named Zaba a Western Region Trailblazer in 2022. The Legal 500 has listed him as a leading lawyer for Shareholder Activism: Advice to Boards since 2023. Sidley has received firm recognition from Chambers USA, The Legal 500 and The Deal. Derek Zaba remains a premier practitioner in shareholder activism, contested M&A, and corporate defense.
