Profile

Michael Vaughn brings more than 30 years of transactional corporate experience to Taylor English. As a partner in the firm’s corporate department, Mr. Vaughn focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions. He guides clients through complicated strategic transactions while balancing legal and business challenges.

Prior to joining Taylor English, Mr. Vaughn led the M&A and transaction practice of a Southern California law firm. He has extensive M&A experience, having navigated deals on both the buy and sell-sides in a variety of settings - public, private, domestic and international. Mr. Vaughn has a deep understanding of securities regulation and capital-raising, and has guided clients through public offerings, private placements, secured lending arrangements and credit facilities. He provides counsel to clients in numerous industries including healthcare, software and information technology, medical device, real estate, food and beverage, insurance, manufacturing and distribution.

A highly regarded corporate attorney, Mr. Vaughn has deep roots in Southern California’s business community. He has worked with clients to craft custom executive compensation and equity incentive plans, and prepared and negotiated a broad variety of contracts for important business relationships. Mr. Vaughn provides his clients with key support in all business and administrative functions, successfully collaborating with financial, accounting and tax advisors, and serving as a trusted advisor to boards of directors and board committees.

In addition to his outside counsel experience, Mr. Vaughn also has experience serving in in-house counsel leadership roles. He previously served as vice president, general counsel and secretary of Applied Medical Corporation, a privately held, VC-backed medical device manufacturer. Additionally, he served as vice president, general counsel and secretary of Quest Software, Inc., then a publicly traded software provider. In these roles, he provided leadership and support for all aspects of major transactions, including due diligence, document drafting and negotiation, closings, regulatory disclosures and financial reporting, as well as all internal business functions.   

Memberships

The State Bar of California, Member

American Bar Association, Member

California Lawyers Association, Business Law Section, Member

Orange County Bar Association, Member

Community Involvement

City of Rancho Santa Margarita, California

• City Council Member, 2014-2018
• Mayor, 2018
• Mayor Pro Tempore, 2017
• Planning Commissioner, 2013-2014
• Planning Commissioner Chairman, 2014

Team 2/5 RSM, Founder

RSM Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors