Friedli Named Chicago Partner-in-Charge
CHICAGO - Helen Friedli, who joined McDermott Will & Emery in 1980 and became a partner in 1986, has been named partner-in-charge of the Firm's Chicago office, its largest office with more than 250 lawyers. Ms. Friedli will also serve as a member of the Firm's five person Executive Committee. She succeeds Alan J. Olson who has served as partner-in-charge of the Chicago office for the past three years. Mr. Olson will now be able to focus his time and energy on his role as Firm Vice Chairman.
"We are confident in Helen's management abilities, outstanding leadership skills and strategic thinking," said Mr. Olson, Firm Vice Chairman. "Throughout her years at the Firm, she has demonstrated her commitment to the Firm and its clients, and this leadership will give her the opportunity to expand her role as a member of the Firm's management."
Ms. Friedli is the first female in the Firm's nearly 70-year history to serve as a partner-in-charge of an office and the first female to serve as a member of the Executive Committee. She also has served on the Firm's Compensation Committee and its Finance Committee.
McDermott Will & Emery was the second major U.S. firm to elect a woman partner (1957), and currently 32 percent of the Firm's lawyers and 45 percent of its associates are women.
As a member of the Firm's Corporate Department, Ms. Friedli focuses on mergers and acquisitions of public and private companies, financings and corporate counseling. She has extensive experience in public and private equity and debt financings, compliance with disclosure and regulatory requirements, and mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, including contested takeovers and proxy contests.
She received her undergraduate degree from Purdue University in 1977, and her law degree from Indiana University in 1980.
