Maddy Hayes

Maddy focuses her practice on complex executive compensation and employee benefits matters in public and private mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. She is also experienced in drafting employment, restrictive covenants and severance agreements, and advising on incentive program design, implementation, and management. In 2025, Maddy was recognized as an Associate to Watch in New York Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation by Chambers and Partners. She also maintains an active pro bono practice and in 2024 was awarded a Cornerstone Award by Lawyers Alliance for New York.

Work highlights

Maddy has advised on transactions including:

• Rio Tinto: advising on its US$6.7bn all-cash acquisition of NYSE-listed Arcadium Lithium.
• Volkswagen: advising on its US$5.8bn vehicle software technology JV and investment transaction with Rivian.
• Dow: advising on its partnership transaction with Macquarie Asset Management to launch US$6bn Diamond Infrastructure Solutions.
• Tate & Lyle: advising on its US$1.8bn acquisition of CP Kelco from J.M. Huber Corporation.
• Aperam: advising on its US$537m acquisition of Nasdaq-listed Universal Stainless & Alloy Products.
• Ardian: advising on the design and implementation of their long-term incentive plans.
• Thornburg: advising on the executive compensation aspects of their acquisition of a 50% stake in the private credit business of Bow River Asset Management, LLC, forming a joint venture to manage private funds in the private credit asset class.
• Getir: advising on the U.S. executive compensation and employee benefits aspects of its acquisition of online grocery company FreshDirect Inc. from Ahold Delhaize USA.
• Emirates Telecommunication Group Company: advising on the employment and incentives aspects of its US$400m investment in Careem Super App.
• Q-Energy: advising on its acquisition of Heelstone Renewable Energy, LLC, a North Carolina-based developer of utility-scale solar projects.
  
   

In 2025, Maddy was recognized as an Associate to Watch by Chambers and Partners in their New York Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation guide. Maddy was also part of the 2024 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Pathfinder program and in October 2024, she was awarded a Cornerstone Award by Lawyers Alliance for New York, recognizing her extraordinary contributions through pro bono legal services.

Before joining Linklaters, Maddy worked in the Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits practice in the New York and London offices of another leading international law firm, where she was the Pro Bono Liaison for the Social Mobility working group. During 2020, Maddy interned for four international human rights organizations in Costa Rica, Mexico, Tanzania, and the Dominican Republic, and from 2017 to 2018, she clerked for three international law firms.

Maddy is proficient in Spanish, having passed the CEREL Legal Spanish exam in 2021. At the University of Oxford, she was the Vice President of the Oxford Law Society and a Linklaters Access Law Ambassador.

Maddy received her law degree at the University of Oxford (Jesus College) and obtained a Master’s in Law and Business Management from the University of Law (London).

Maddy is a dual-qualified lawyer licensed to practice in New York, England and Wales.