Wesley Fredericks joined Heller Ehrman in 2006.  He is a member of the Corporate/VLG Practice Group and Chairman of the New York Business Law Practice.

Experience

Mr. Fredericks practices in the areas of domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, finance, corporate governance and board of directors counseling, regulatory compliance, and the special issues confronting emerging and growth companies. Among those with whom he works are technology and life sciences companies.

Mr. Fredericks began his legal career with the law firm of Shearman & Sterling and was most recently with a prominent national law firm where he was successively head of that firm’s New York corporate department and co-head of its firm-wide M&A practice group, co-head of the firm-wide corporate department, member of the firm’s management committee and its deputy managing partner.  

He is the immediate past-Chairman of the American Bar Association Business Law Section Committee on International Business Law, former Chairman of its Subcommittee on Multinational Mergers and Acquisitions, and member of the Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of The Business Lawyer, the ABA’s scholarly corporate law journal. 

Mr. Fredericks has held several executive positions in the automotive industry including Chairman of Lotus Cars USA, Inc. He has been a member of the board of directors of several private and publicly traded corporations and not-for-profit entities. Mr. Fredericks is regularly quoted in the business and financial press on topics of relevance to mergers and acquisitions and related areas of law.

Publications

• "Successor Liability in Asset Acquisitions,"  New York Law Journal Mergers & Acquisitions Special Issue, November 2000; abstracted in the Bowne Digest, January 2001.  

Speaking Engagements

• Chairman and moderator, "An International Perspective on M&A Deal Protection,” American Bar Association, August 2008.
• Panelist, “Controlled Auctions:  Negotiating the Definitive Agreement,” American Bar Association, March 2007.
• Moderator, “Private Equity—the New King of M&A,” American Bar Association, January 2007.
• Panelist, “Overview on Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions,” American Bar Association Young Lawyer Institute, April 2005.
• Panelist, “Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions: Transactions between the U.S. and Europe,” American Bar Association/Paris Bar Association, Paris, France, June 2004.
• Panelist, “Buying and Selling Overseas: Dealing with Contracts in a Multinational Market,” American Bar Association Center for Continuing Legal Education, February 2004.
• Panelist, “International Ventures for the Old and New Economies,” American Bar Association Center for Continuing Legal Education, September 2000.
• Chairman, “United States Public Finance and the Middle Market Foreign Corporation,” American Bar Association, August 1998.
• Chairman and co-moderator, “Foreign Investment and Acquisition in the United States, a European Perspective,” American Bar Association/Council of the Bars/Law Societies of the European Community, August 1997.