Allyson M. Benton

Ally has experience assisting clients with mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, private equity investments, corporate restructurings, financings, and general corporate matters. She regularly advises clients on corporate governance, shareholder engagement, and commercial contracting.

Ally has worked with companies across various industries, including consumer goods, health care, aerospace, manufacturing, and technology.

Ally also has experience counseling public and private companies on both the buy-side and sell-side of strategic transactions, including billion-dollar deals, cross-border transactions, and carve-outs. She has led deal teams and coordinated subject matter specialists and local counsel to deliver tailored legal solutions aligned with complex business objectives. Ally has significant experience guiding clients through due diligence processes and risk mitigation strategies in M&A transactions.

Prior to joining Calfee in 2025, Ally served for five years as an Associate Attorney with Jones Day in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity practice group.

Ally earned her J.D., cum laude, from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where she served as Managing Editor of The Ohio State Law Journal (2018-2020). Ally served as a Moot Court Governing Board Executive and was a recipient of the George R. Beneman Award for Moot Court contributions. She was named Champion of The Closer, a National Transactional Law Competition, and she was the recipient of the Professionalism Award in 2020. She participated in the Entrepreneurial Business Law Clinic and served as President of the Business Law Society. Ally was awarded the Eminent Scholar full-tuition scholarship during her law school tenure.

Ally earned a B.A. degree in Economics and Political Science with a Criminology minor, summa cum laude, from the University of Kentucky, where she was a Provost Scholar (academic partial tuition scholarship) and a Trunzo Scholar (education abroad scholarship). She was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha Honors Society and the Pi Beta Phi sorority.

Ally previously served as a judicial extern to Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court.

Honors & Recognitions

• CALI Excellence Awards in Legal Negotiations, Business of Law, Sports Law, and Franchise Law

Education

J.D., cum laude, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, 2020

B.A., Economics and Political Sciences, summa cum laude, University of Kentucky, 2017

Experience

Ally’s experience includes the following representative transactions completed prior to joining Calfee:

• Represented a private equity firm in its acquisition and financing by a portfolio company, a leading franchisor in its industry.
• Represented a private equity firm in its acquisition of a provider of clinical trial site software.
• Advised the investment funds affiliated with a private equity’s funds in connection with the sale of a platform to a newly formed acquisition vehicle jointly controlled by investment funds affiliated with an investment firm and private equity firm.
• Advised a publicly traded corporation in its attempted acquisition of a company from a private equity firm in a$960 million all-cash transaction.
• Represented an energy industry client in its $3.5 billion sale of an equity stake in its subsidiary to a joint venture partner.
• Represented a private equity firm in connection with its acquisition by a portfolio company of a franchisor services company from an indirect subsidiary of a publicly traded company.
• Represented a multinational financial and retail technology company and certain of its U.S. and foreign subsidiaries in connection with the successful restructuring of more than $2 billion in funded debt in dual proceedings under U.S. bankruptcy code and European restructuring law.
• Represented a publicly traded, global manufacturing company in its $440 million divestiture of one of its divisions to a publicly traded corporation.

Professional & Community

• College Mentors for Kids, Inc., Student Mentor