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Libbie Howley O'Keeffe

PartnerBoston

Libbie Howley O’Keeffe is a corporate lawyer with a diverse practice centered on business and finance transactions.  Libbie represents privately held and family-owned businesses, providing trusted advice for business owners, founders, and C-Suite executives. Libbie’s clients range from emerging to mature businesses, operating across many industries locally, regionally, and nationally. Her responsive communication and attentive approach fosters thriving, long-term client relationships.

Libbie counsels clients in business planning, drafting and negotiating contracts, commercial lending, financing, corporate and regulatory compliance issues, ESOPs and business succession planning. Her work with clients also includes venture capital, securities, equity and debt financings, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, Libbie works with banks on lending, workouts, and forbearance matters. Across all of her practice, Libbie helps clients fully understand their legal options so that they may adopt proactive approaches in their daily operations.

With a collaborative approach to practicing law, Libbie serves as Vice-Chair for Hinckley Allen’s Privately Held & Family-Owned Businesses practice.

  • Represented a mechanical contractor in negotiating and receiving a structured equity investment from an international private equity company.
  • Represented an east-coast based construction company in a seller-financed redemption and sale to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for its nine affiliated entities.
  • Represented a marine construction company in its strategic asset acquisitions to fulfill business division expansion goals.
  • Represented the venture capital arm within a multinational company for investments in start-ups in the health, nutrition and bioscience spaces.
  • Represented the owner of a union drywall company in the sale of 100% of its ownership to an ESOP, including pre-transaction restructuring and lender financing.
  • Represented the owners of a company specializing in the distribution and installation of accessories, equipment, and furnishings for the construction industry in the sale of its assets to a private equity buyer.
  • Represented an electric, HVAC and plumbing contractor in the sale of its business, including equity rollover, to a private equity company.
  • Represented a hardware distributor in the sale of its business, including equity rollover, to a private equity company.
  • Represented a flooring distributor in a strategic acquisition involving buyer financing.
  • Represented an alcoholic beverage distributor in a strategic acquisition and related licensing matters.
  • Represented a life sciences consulting firm in establishing an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and subsequently represented the estate of the founder, in the sale of the company, which was partially owned by the ESOP, to a global provider of comprehensive healthcare services.
  • Negotiated and closed the sale of two fast food franchises to a nationally recognized strategic buyer.

Work Experience

  • Hinckley Allen
    • Partner (2022-Present)
    • Associate (2016-2021)
  • Bowditch & Dewey, LLP
    • Associate (2015-2016)
  • Rich May, P.C.
    • Associate (2013-2015)
    • Summer Associate (2012)
  • Plymouth County Juvenile Court
    • Judicial Intern (2011)
  • Boston Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review
    • Intern
  • Ross Silverman, LLP
    • Legal Assistant (2009-2010)

Honors & Awards

  • Best Lawyers® Ones to Watch (2022-2025)
    • Corporate Law
  • Boston Magazine, Top Lawyers (2023-2025)
    • Corporate Law
  • Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Go To Lawyer for Business Transactions (2026)
  • Super Lawyers, Massachusetts: Rising Stars (2020-2025)
    • Business/Corporate

Certifications

  • Women's Leadership Program (Certification)
    • Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

Professional Affiliations

  • Boston Bar Association
  • Massachusetts Bar Association
  • Rhode Island Bar Association
  • Women's Bar Association

Bar Memberships

  • Massachusetts
  • Rhode Island
  • United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Publication

Employee Stock Ownership Plan: How to Leverage Stock Appreciation Rights and Warrants

When a company is contemplating a transaction involving an employee stock ownership plan (“ESOP”), there are a lot of considerations regarding structure, including how to retain, incentivize and reward key individuals. One set of considerations is stoc…

Publication

Critical Considerations for Drafting and Negotiating Working Capital Adjustments

Working capital is essential to the operations of every business, making it a critically important component in many M&A transactions. From the buyer’s perspective, the purchase price it offers typically assumes that there will be a normal and suffic…

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Firm News

Libbie Howley O’Keeffe Named a Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Go To Lawyer for Business Transactions

Hinckley Allen Partner Libbie Howley O’Keeffe has been named a 2026 Go To Lawyer for Business Transactions by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, recognizing her leadership and deep experience advising closely held and family-owned businesses on compl…

Firm News

Boston Magazine Recognizes 26 Hinckley Allen Attorneys in 2025 Top Lawyers List

Hinckley Allen is proud to announce that 26 of its attorneys have been named to Boston Magazine’s 2025 Top Lawyers list, representing a broad range of its practice groups. This year, six Hinckley Allen attorneys are newly recognized among the pu…

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Case Study

Hinckley Allen Guides Complex ESOP for Family-Owned Construction Firm

Hinckley Allen represented Rifenburg Holdings, Inc. (“Rifenburg”) in the sale of 100% ownership interests to the organization’s newly formed Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Rifenburg, one of Upstate New York’s oldest and largest family-owned …