Jay O. Rothman is a partner and the chairman and CEO of Foley & Lardner LLP. He is also a member of the firm's Management Committee and the former chair of the Transactional & Securities Practice.
Mr. Rothman practices primarily in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, securities law, takeover defense, and general corporate and business law. Among other transactions, he has structured and negotiated numerous acquisition transactions in various industries and has represented both underwriters and corporate issuers in various public offerings of both debt and equity securities. Mr. Rothman also regularly counsels publicly-held companies regarding compliance matters under federal and state securities laws. He is a member of the firm's Transactional & Securities Practice and the Energy Industry Team.
Mr. Rothman was named to BTI Consulting Group's coveted Client Service All Star Team in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012. This honor is bestowed upon individual attorneys who deliver outstanding client service according to corporate counsel interviewed at Fortune 1000 companies. He is one of only five attorneys recognized in 2007 as a "Super All-Star" for being nominated by more than one client. In 2010, the Legal 500 recognized Mr. Rothman for his work in the area of mergers & acquisitions. In addition, Mr. Rothman was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® (2005-12) in the fields of corporate, mergers & acquisitions and securities/capital markets law and he has been named "2010 Milwaukee Corporate Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers in America. Based on exhaustive peer-review surveys, attorneys honored as "Lawyers of the Year" have received particularly high ratings for their abilities, professionalism and integrity. Mr. Rothman was also included inChambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers (2005-10) and was selected for inclusion in Wisconsin Super Lawyers® (2005-11) for his securities and corporate finance work.
Mr. Rothman is a member of the Milwaukee Bar Association, the State Bar of Wisconsin, and the American Bar Association. He is a frequent speaker on SEC compliance and corporate disclosure and governance matters.
Prior to joining Foley in 1986, Mr. Rothman served as a law clerk to the Hon. Harlington Wood, Jr., United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He graduated, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1985 and received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Marquette University in 1982, where he was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa.