Michelle R. Generaux Named a 2026 Private Equity and M&A Visionary by LA Times

Honor recognizes Generaux’s ten years leading Murtaugh LLP and her M&A work for architecture, engineering, and design firms across California.

IRVINE, CA, UNITED STATES, August 19, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Southern California law firm Murtaugh LLP announced that Co-Managing Partner Michelle R. Generaux has been named to the 2026 Private Equity and M&A Visionaries list published by Business by LA Times Studios. The program recognizes the private equity and M&A leaders serving as the architects behind middle-market liquidity, corporate turnarounds, and enterprise transformation across the region, selected on the basis of professional achievements and significant transactions completed over the preceding 24 months.

Generaux has spent more than a decade at the helm of Murtaugh LLP. She served as the firm’s sole Managing Partner for ten years, directing firm operations, attorney development, and strategic direction, and now co-manages the firm alongside Marin T. Bradshaw. She built and led the firm through that period while maintaining one of California’s most specialized transactional practices, advising architecture and engineering firms on the mergers, acquisitions, and ownership transitions that determine their futures.

“There are very few deal lawyers in Southern California who understand how a design firm actually makes money, how licensing works across state lines, and what a founder needs to hear when the numbers stop being the hard part,” said Michael J. Murtaugh, founding Senior Partner of Murtaugh LLP. “Michelle understands all of it, and that is why our clients keep coming back to her.”

Her practice centers on mergers and acquisitions, private equity sales, strategic acquisitions, and internal ownership succession, with a depth of experience in the design professional space that few attorneys in the state can match. Recently, she represented a nationally recognized architectural firm with more than 750 employees in its acquisition of design service assets from a publicly traded international real estate company, leading the drafting and negotiation of the asset purchase agreement and advising on transition planning across offices, personnel, and active projects. She also served as lead counsel to a California-based infrastructure contractor in its sale to a private equity firm, structuring and negotiating the stock purchase agreement and related financing documents and guiding ownership through diligence, valuation, and risk allocation.

Generaux has represented numerous engineering firms in sales of ownership interests to publicly traded engineering companies, negotiating equity and stock purchase agreements, structuring F-reorganizations, and coordinating lender and rollover financing to balance tax efficiency, transaction value, and integration strategy. She counsels design professional and contractor clients on internal succession, designing and implementing shareholder agreements, buy-sell agreements, and the financing arrangements that support long-term continuity.

Beyond transactional work, Generaux serves as outside general counsel to multiple architecture and engineering firms, advising on pre-claim risk management, contract negotiation with counterparties including Fortune 500 companies, employment matters, and multi-jurisdiction licensing and regulatory compliance that allows firms to expand into new states without disruption. She is a frequent speaker at industry events hosted by the American Institute of Architects and the American Council of Engineering Companies, and she presented at the 2026 CASI Accessibility Summit.

Generaux is a sustained presence in the Orange County community. She serves as President and board member of the Notre Dame Club of Orange County, founded the Notre Dame Professionals of Orange County, a professional network of more than 140 members, served as Executive Director of the ND2OC Community Service Endowment, and has held leadership involvement with United Way’s 211OC project.

About Murtaugh LLP
Founded more than 45 years ago, Murtaugh LLP is a Southern California firm providing business transactional and litigation services to architects, engineers, and other professional services firms, as well as individuals and families. The firm is also known for its work in complex trust and estate planning, probate, and trust and estate litigation. Learn more at https://www.murtaughlaw.com/

Lana J Manganiello
Practice Growth Partner
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