When: Friday, April 23, 2010, 3 – 4pm

Where: Hauser 104

Event type: Panel Discussions

Sponsor: Harvard Association of Law and Business (HALB)

Contact E-mail: pkrause@jd12.law.harvard.edu
A panel to further expose Harvard’s law and business students to the financial sponsor industry. The panel will cover effective methods for private equity recruiting, current valuation trends, the use of a law degree to an investment professional and the qualities of a good financial sponsor coverage lawyer. The discussion will also include the panel members’ take on Senator Dodd’s upcoming reform bill and its effect on the tax treatment of capital gains.

Moderated by Howell Jackson
James S. Reid, Jr. Professor of Law

Panel Members:

Barry Volpert: JD ’85, MBA ’85 Co-founder of Crestview Partners, a value-oriented private equity firm with approximately $4 billion under management. He previously worked at Goldman Sachs where he was head of the Merchant Banking Division in Europe and co-COO of the Principal Investment Area worldwide. Mr. Volpert also served as a director of Goldman Sachs International.

Collin Beecroft: JD ’90 Internal Counsel to Baupost Capital, a financial sponsor with approximately $1.5 billion under management. Previously, he was a Partner in the Corporate Department of Ropes & Gray. He has counseled a variety of public and private companies, including private equity funds, banks, and venture capital firms. Mr. Beecroft specializes in mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, restructurings, and bank, mezzanine, and venture capital financings.

Peter Krause: JD ’74 Co-Founder of Greenhill & Co. and Chairman of its Real Estate Private Equity Group. He previously worked as a managing director at Morgan Stanley Real Estate and served as a Senior Member of its Investment Committee. In that capacity, he served as Chairman of the Board of Red Roof Inns. Before joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Krause had practiced real estate law for six years at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.

R. Newcomb Stillwell: JD ’84 Senior Partner in the Corporate Department of Ropes & Gray LLP, where his practice focuses on representing large private equity firms in mergers and acquisitions, going private transactions, and related financings. Representative clients include Bain Capital, TPG, TA Associates, and Huntsman Gay Capital Partners. Mr. Stillwell has had a leadership role in four of the 20 North American private equity transactions over $1 billion since September 2007.

Title: “Structuring M&A – How a Deal Team Turns a Handshake into Transaction Steps”

Speaker: Deborah L. Paul – Partner (Tax), Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Place: Ames Courtroom

Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to klyle@law.harvard.edu.

On April 16 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, come learn about (1) transactional lawyering; and (2) finding and mining SEC filings on the library’s 5th floor [A524].

Register here:  http://supersaas.com/schedule/Harvard/Legal_Research_Training

• 2:00 pm to 2:30 pm

Legal research – it’s not just for litigators! Learn about key sources that will make you shine as a transactional lawyer.

We’ll look at checklists, data sources, tips for drafting and more as we focus on transactional work in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, securities and related areas.

• 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Come learn how to find and mine SEC filings to commit acts of good and evil, whether it’s helping take a company public (S-1) or co-opting M&A agreements.

Law and Business Program of Study Advising Lunch
 
When: Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 12 – 1pm
Where: Pound 102

Spotlight on Corporate Governance, Friday March 26, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in Pound 201

For most law students, corporate law may bring to mind the intense frenzy of mergers & acquisitions and the high stakes world of capital markets. There is, however, a whole universe of non-transactional corporate work that is also embodied under the rubric of “corporate law”. This type of corporate governance practice allows lawyers to deeply connect in an ongoing way with their clients. At this program, you’ll meet several practitioners of non-transactional corporate law (including a securities lawyer working with annual reporting requirements; a lawyer focused on drafting agreements related to IP rights; and an emerging company specialist) who help their clients prosper and thrive outside the context of a corporate transactional practice.

Preparing for Summer Success

FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 3:00-6:30PM

Find out how to hit the ground running as you begin your summer or permanent job.

Students will have the opportunity to select up to three sessions offering practical tips on efficient legal research strategies in a variety of areas and offer other concrete strategies for success on the job including how to tackle a new assignment, interact with supervisors, obtaining constructive feedback and how to gain the most from your job opportunity.

Interested in transactional law (e.g., M&A, Securities, and Real Estate), consider attending:

• 3:30 Transactional Lawyering
• 4:30 Administrative Legal Research
• 5:30 10 Tips for Success in the Private Sector

For schedule and registration, visit:http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/services/students/summer-success.html

Cosponsored by the HLS Library, the Program on the Legal Profession, OPIA and OCS.

Law Firm Economics , Wednesday March 10, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in John Chipman Gray Room (Pound 213)

If you are interested in working at a law firm one day, it is imperative to understand that the practice of law is a business. This program will help you navigate the seemingly murky waters of the business of law firms as Trent Norris, head of Arnold & Porter’s San Francisco office, explains: the nuts and bolts of firm profitability (including the real deal about billable hours and profits-per-partner), how associates fit into the picture, and the meaning and effect of different partnership structures on an organization. A must-see for anyone contemplating private sector practice.  Lunch provided by Arnold & Porter.

Entrepreneurship Roundtable , Tuesday February 23, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in TBA

Please join us for a panel discussion regarding the questions and challenges entrepreneurs face as they begin their ventures. Featuring entrepreneurs, venture capitalist professionals, and corporate attorneys, the panel will focus on nurturing an idea into a business, positioning a company for early round financing, and common hurdles entrepreneurs must overcome. Co-sponsored by HALB and the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs. Lunch provided by Foley & Lardner

Traphagen Distinguished Alumni Speakers Series (TDASS)

Want to meet with the co-founders of an investment management and advisory firm overseeing approximately $16.9 billion in assets?  Interested in knowing all that a general counsel does and what its really like to direct the legal matters for an enterprise that each year sells over 300 million books, pours 60 million beverages, bakes 8 million cookies and scones, and sponsors more than 100,000 community events?  To sign up for either or both lunches, please reply to jforde@law.harvard.edu.

Joshua S. Friedman JD82, MBA 80, Founding Partner, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of Canyon Capital Advisors LLC and Mitchell Julis JD 81, MBA 80, Founding Partner, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of Canyon Capital Advisors LLC, will participate in a joint TDASS on Friday, February 26, location TBA.  Canyon Capital Advisors LLC is a leading alternative asset manager; Canyon and its affiliates currently manage investment funds and separate accounts with approximately $16.9 billion in assets with a staff of 195.

Mr. Friedman has spent his entire career in the leveraged finance business, structuring and investing in debt and equity securities, leveraged buyouts, acquisitions, restructurings, arbitrage and other special situations.  Previous to the formation of Canyon in 1990, he was Executive Vice President and Co-Director of the Capital Markets Services Group of Drexel Burnham Lambert.  Mr. Friedman also worked at Goldman Sachs & Company in the Mergers and Acquisitions department.

Since entering the investment world in 1983 after leaving Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as a bankruptcy and creditors rights attorney Mr. Julis has been a value investor in special situation debt and equity securities in the public and private markets, including bankruptcies, reorganizations and restructurings.  Prior to the formation of Canyon and its predecessors, he directed a group of professionals responsible for a portfolio of distressed and special situation securities at Dreaxel Lambert. 

Jennifer M. Daniels 88, Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Barnes & Noble, Inc., will participate in TDASS on Friday, March 5 at 12 noon, location TBA.  Ms. Daniels is responsible for all legal matters for Barnes & Noble, Inc. and its subsidiaries.  Barnes & Noble, the nations top bookseller brand, recently earned the highest rating of 100 percent in the Corporate Equality Index, an annual survey administered by the Human Rights Foundation.  Prior to joining Barnes & Noble, Ms. Daniels held senior positions in IBMs legal department, where she served as an attorney for over 16 years, including as VP, Assistant General Counsel, and Chief Trust and Compliance Officer with worldwide responsibility for IBMS legal and regulatory compliance; and VP and General Counsel for IBM Americas, where she managed a team of approximately 95 lawyers and professionals in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.

Entrepreneurship Roundtable , Tuesday February 23, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in Pound 335

Please join us for a panel discussion regarding the questions and challenges entrepreneurs face as they begin their ventures. Featuring entrepreneurs, venture capitalist professionals, and corporate attorneys, the panel will focus on nurturing an idea into a business, positioning a company for early round financing, and common hurdles entrepreneurs must overcome. Co-sponsored by HALB and the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs. Lunch provided by Foley & Lardner.

Anatomy of a Deal: Inside the Corporate Transaction, Thursday February 25, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in Pound 335

Do you ever wonder what exactly goes into a deal?  What role do the lawyers play?  The deal process is a roller coaster replete with high-energy organizational meetings, high-drama negotiation and high-stakes for the client. Join lawyers from Bingham McCutcheon as they act out the mechanics of the deal and demystify what corporate transactional lawyers actually do behind the scenes. Lunch sponsored by Bingham McCutchen.