ABOUT
James J. Black is Of Counsel in Morrison & Foerster’s Business Restructuring & Insolvency Group and has more than 20 years of experience advising companies on mergers and acquisitions, financings and corporate and compliance advisory work. He has led numerous major cross-border transactions, including initial public offerings of shares by European issuers and complex M&A deals and regularly advises privately held businesses on transactional and other matters.
Jim is co-chair of the International Expansion and Cross-Border Transactions subcommittee of the ABA Middle Market and Small Business Committee, an active member of the ABA M&A Committee, and a participant in several ABA working groups focusing on M&A-related issues. He is a member of the American Council on Germany, the American Constitution Society and the German American Lawyers’ Association (DAJV). He provides pro bono legal advice to the American Academy in Berlin, Human Rights Campaign, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and other organizations, and is a regular speaker and author on a variety of U.S. legal topics. Jim speaks fluent German and regularly advises clients, speaks at events and publishes articles in the German language.
Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Jim was a corporate partner in the international practice of another global firm, where he headed the firm’s U.S. law practice in Germany.
Jim earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and his master’s degree in German literature from the University of Virginia Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. He was a recipient of the Robert Bosch Fellowship in 1996, during which he worked at the German Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin, as well as a Fulbright/DAAD scholarship and a Rotary International scholarship. Jim graduated cum laude with honors from Southern Illinois University, where he studied German and journalism.
