Foley Gardere Adds Transactional and IP Attorney Larry Waks
Larry Waks has joined Foley Gardere as a partner in its Business Law Department and Transactions Practice Group. Waks will split his time between the firm’s Dallas, Austin and New York City offices.
The firm said Waks is a corporate transactional and intellectual property lawyer and advisor to domestic and international clients, including many in the food and beverage, energy, manufacturing, private equity, technology, and media and entertainment industries. He also represents publishing and distribution entities, computer game, software and hardware companies, and oil and gas interests. His practice experience has an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, consumer products, fashion, entertainment and intellectual property, the firm said in a release.
Waks’ transactional experience includes leading a six-attorney team that represented actor George Clooney, along with Clooney’s business partners Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman, in the $1 billion sale of the premium Casamigos tequila brand to global spirits giant Diageo Plc. He also handled the $1.7 billion sale of an international chemical company, the $1 billion going-private sale of a medical products company to Blackstone, and the $400 million sale of a high-tech defense company to Carlyle Group. In addition, Waks has led the acquisition and sale of more than $2 billion in businesses in the energy industry and has represented clients in a variety of lawsuits involving intellectual property issues, as well as libel and privacy matters.
Waks joins Foley from Wilson Elser, where he was head of the M&A practice. Before that, he was a partner at Jackson Walker, and previously, at Milgrim, Thomajan & Lee. He also once served as assistant general counsel of Tesoro Petroleum Corp.
Waks is a fellow of the American Bar Association Foundation, the Austin Bar Foundation, and the Texas Bar Foundation. He is also a member of the State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Section’s Governing Committee and past chairman chair of its Copyright and Texas Entertainment & Sports Sections, and he is a former chair of the American Bar Association’s Entertainment & Sports Practice Forum’s Litigation Division. In addition, Waks is a voting member of the Grammy’s and Latin Grammy’s.
