Nick Austin

Nicholas Austin’s work primarily focuses on providing expert counsel to Fortune 500 companies. He currently serves as the General Manager and Senior Corporate Counsel of the Capital Markets Division of Microsoft’s legal department where he focuses on artificial intelligence/cloud technology transactions and other strategic initiatives for financial service industry customers.

Nick previously worked at Wells Fargo Bank as Vice President and Senior Counsel in the Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Venture Capital (VC) and Strategic Transactions Group. Nick also helped lead banking regulatory functions for Wells Fargo’s Resolution and Recovery Planning (RRP) team. While at Wells Fargo Nick served as a diversity leader for the bank. He also recently served as the Treasurer of the National Bar Association. Nick is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Black Student Fund, the Global Liver
Institute and the Gate City Bar Association.

Nick worked as M&A and VC Counsel at Caterpillar, where he advised senior company executives on legal matters pertaining to M&A and Caterpillar’s VC, technology and joint venture projects. Nick helped establish Caterpillar’s first corporate VC initiative, and served as General Counsel of Caterpillar’s Toronto based tunneling business, Caterpillar Tunneling Canada Corporation, where he led legal operations for the entity.

As an associate at the Washington, DC offices of Foley & Lardner, LLP, Nick handled M&A and Business Transactions where he advised clients on mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts, securities and energy related matters.

Nick is a proud recipient of the American Bar Association’s Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer award as well as the National Bar Association’s Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer Award. Nick was also selected as the Young Lawyer of the Year by Lawyers of Color for 2023.

Nick earned his JD from Georgetown Law and his B.A. from Morehouse College. Nick is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.