Law & Business Program of Study

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.