---

Marco Masotti, 36

Partner and co-chair of the private equity group

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison

While growing up in South Africa during the fight against apartheid, Marco Masotti lived for debates about law, especially constitutional law. Questions such as whether his country needed a bill of rights weren’t dry, theoretical notions. They were live-or-die issues for Mr. Masotti and his University of Natal classmates, who were braving tanks in the streets of Durban.

“You’d go to bed and dream about whether there should be separation between church and state,” he says.

So it’s not surprising that he decided to become a lawyer. When he got to the States, the Thomas Jefferson fan spent a year at the University of Virginia learning about American notions of political freedom.

Though he ultimately chose a career in financial law, the move wasn’t entirely unrelated to his days as an activist: Mr. Masotti became attracted to Paul Weiss after reading an article about its efforts to raise funding for voter education in South Africa.

He says that crafting investment funds is like debating constitutional issues in that both require examination of highly abstract concepts. “Creating a fund is an exceedingly complicated exercise in diplomacy,” he says. “You have to nudge dozens of different parties around the world to agree to one set of terms.”

Since he joined Paul Weiss in 1993, Mr. Masotti has helped clients such as Lazard and Brown Brothers Harriman raise nearly $25 billion. “He is the epitome of a great young partner,” says colleague Robert Hirsh. “I doubt if there is anyone who takes as seriously the responsibility he has over such a broad group of areas.”

- Tommy Fernandez

---