Francesco Barbera is an associate in the firm’s corporate department. Francesco’s practice is focused on the representation of buyers, sellers and financial advisors in connection with public and private mergers & acquisition transactions; debt and equity securities transactions; the formation of joint ventures and strategic partnerships; corporate and board governance; and general business representation.

Francesco began his legal career litigating commercial and intellectual property disputes at a major Los Angeles law firm. He represented a broad array of clients, from television networks to large pharmaceutical companies. He also advised the firm’s clients in the area of employment law, including compensation and wage and hour law compliance, anti-competition and anti-solicitation agreements, employee discipline and termination, workplace privacy, alternative dispute resolution, and the drafting, revision and updating of employment agreements, employee handbooks, employments applications, and related materials.

Francesco is also active in pro bono matters. He serves as outside counsel to the Los Angeles Leadership Academy, a non-profit charter school serving underprivileged children in the Los Angeles community. Francesco also serves as the Vice President and a Director of Fondazione Italia, a non-profit that works in collaboration with the Italian government to promote Italian language and cultural instruction.

Francesco received his J.D from Harvard Law School cum laude in 2001, where served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Law Record and an editor of the Harvard Civil-Right Civil-Liberties Law Review. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. At Penn, Francesco founded and served as editor-in-chief of the Ivy League’s first journal of undergraduate historical scholarship, The Penn History Review. His senior thesis, an exploration of education and community activism in East Harlem during the Great Depression, received the Thomas C. Cochran Prize, awarded annually to the author of the best undergraduate thesis in American History. Prior to and during law school, Francesco was a freelance journalist covering issues relating to law and politics. His writing has appeared in Slate, The American Lawyer, California Lawyer, and the Boston Phoenix, among other publications.

Authorships and Co-Authorships:

“Arbitration of Labor and Employment Disputes,” West Publications (2005) (Co-Author with James N. Adler)