Bio

Morris Defeo is a partner and chair of Herrick’s Corporate Department, where he focuses on domestic and international capital markets, corporate finance and M&A transactions, and corporate governance and compliance counseling for boards, committees and directors of public and private companies and not-for-profit entities. Morris advises public and private corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs), private equity firms and funds, venture and hedge funds, private investment funds and other clients in U.S. and cross-border joint ventures and strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, consolidations, asset and stock acquisitions and dispositions, all aspects of private equity and venture capital fund transactions and public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, including initial public offerings and shelf-registered offerings, Rule 144A high-yield debt offerings and exchange listings. Morris provides counsel to fund sponsors and investors on a range of investment activities including fund formation, structuring arrangements, senior and mezzanine debt, distressed investments, syndications, leveraged buyouts, majority and minority stake investments, sales and divestitures as well as exit strategies. He also advises clients on compliance with the registration, proxy solicitation and periodic reporting requirements of the U.S. securities laws, and the complex requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, such as those related to section 404 internal control over financial reporting, disclosure controls and governance. Morris has advised clients, including start-ups and emerging growth companies in the U.S., the Middle East/North Africa, Europe, India and the Far East, which have operated in a range of sectors, including defense, automotive, energy, information technology, manufacturing and telecommunications. Earlier in his career, Morris served as executive vice president of corporate and international transactions for CAIS Internet, a Nasdaq-listed Internet access solutions company. In that capacity, he helped build out CAIS's deployment in Asia, Australia and Europe through merger and acquisition transactions, joint ventures and strategic relationships with foreign telecom, infrastructure, equipment and hospitality companies in 16 countries. From 1990 to 1991, Morris worked as a foreign visiting attorney in the law firm of Yuasa and Hara in Tokyo, Japan.