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E-MailThe Forum is pleased to announce that Stephen Fraidin, a member of the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, joined the Advisory Board of the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance. He joins the existing members of the Board: William Ackman, Peter Atkins, Joseph Bachelder, Richard Breeden, Richard Climan, Isaac Corré, John Finley, Byron S. Georgiou, Larry Hamdan, Robert Mendelsohn, David Millstone, Theodore Mirvis, James Morphy, Toby Myerson, Eileen Nugent, Paul Rowe, and Rodman Ward.
For more than 30 years, Steve Fraidin’s practice has focused on the representation of major companies and investment groups in acquisitions and proxy contests, and special committees and boards of directors regarding mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and other matters. In 2003, he joined Kirkland & Ellis LLP as a senior partner in the M&A group. Major M&A representations most recently handled by Mr. Fraidin include the special committee of Expedia, Inc. in connection with the spinout of TripAdvisor, Inc., the representation of EMS Technologies in its sale to Honeywell, Inc. for approximately $600 million, and 3G Capital Management LLC in the $4.3 billion acquisition of Burger King. His work on behalf of 3G Capital was recognized by The American Lawyer in its annual “Dealmakers of the Year” edition and the transaction was recognized by Investment Dealers’ Digest in its annual “Deal of the Year Awards,” The Deal Magazine as one of the “Deals of the Year” and as the “Private Equity Deal of the Year” at the M&A Atlas and IFLR America’s awards ceremonies in New York. Mr. Fraidin also recently represented Pershing Square Capital Management LP, the New York hedge-fund firm led by activist investor William Ackman, in the acquisition of a 26.1% stake in retailer, J.C. Penney; Community Health Systems Inc. in the attempt to acquire Tenet Healthcare Corp.; and NRG Energy Inc. in successfully repelling Exelon Corp.’s $7.45 billion hostile bid. His work in the NRG takeover attempt was recognized by The AmLaw Daily as “Dealmaker of the Week.”
Annually recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, clients most recently assert that Mr. Fraidin’s “enthusiasm for the task and his encyclopaedic command of the issues are terrific.” He has been called “a seasoned and experienced transactional lawyer who is well respected in the M&A community; [with] a lot of gravitas.” Chambers placed Mr. Fraidin “among the leading lights of the Firm,” and clients said he is “a superb deal-maker whether for private equity sources or public companies.” Chambers also said he is “acclaimed for his profound experience of the market. A ‘brilliant lawyer,’ he is praised for his confident supervision of multi-stranded transactions.”
Since 1988, Mr. Fraidin has been a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School and is a member of the Board of the Yale Center for the Study of Corporate Law. Mr. Fraidin received an A.B. from Tufts University and an LLB from Yale Law School.
