Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP brought Rachel L. Smydo on board as senior counsel for the firm’s general corporate, mergers and acquisitions practice. Smydo will handle securities and corporate governance legal matters for the firm.

Prior to Thorp Reed, Smydo held an associate spot at Reed Smith LLP where she served on the firm’s corporate and securities division out of its Pittsburgh office. She primarily focuses on securities reporting compliance, public and private offerings of equity and debt securities, corporate governance, general corporate counseling and cross-border strategic transactions. She frequently represents large public companies and mutual funds with respect to all types of securities filings with the SEC and various stock exchanges and provides on-going counseling regarding corporate governance and new regulations such as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

In addition, Smydo has worked on many mergers, acquisitions and divestitures on behalf of Fortune 500 companies across a broad range of industry sectors. She also advises mutual funds with respect to disclosure materials, sales literature, contracts and board duties. Smydo has experience counseling money market funds and has assisted in developing compliance programs for money market funds.

Smydo earned her J.D., Magna Cum Laude, from Duquesne University School of Law and her B.S., Summa Cum Laude, in Accounting from Wheeling Jesuit University.

Career moves