F. Reid Avett
Associate
Duane Morris LLP
505 9th Street, N.W., Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20004-2166
USA
Phone: +1 202 776 5212
Fax: +1 202 403 3061
Email: ravett@duanemorris.com

F. Reid Avett practices in the area of corporate law, counseling clients on corporate, securities and regulatory matters. He also provides advice to clients in a variety of industries on corporate governance, finance and general contract preparation and review.

Prior to entering the practice of law, Mr. Avett worked for four years as an accountant. He is a North Carolina Certified Public Accountant.

Admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Maryland, Mr. Avett is a 2005 graduate of Emory University School of Law and a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.S., Business Administration; M.S., Accounting).

Areas of Practice

• Corporate Law
• Securities Law

Representative Matters

• Represented the placement agent in a PIPE transaction consisting of convertible notes and warrants for a provider of mobile electric power solutions.
• Represented NewSpring Growth in leading a $12 million round of Series B funding for Mobiquity.
• Represented CopyTele in a $10 million At-the-Market Common Stock Purchase Agreement with Aspire Capital, LLC.
• Represented an American consumer electronics company in the filing of an omnibus shelf registration statement on Form S-3 for up to $200 million of securities and an omnibus acquisition shelf registration statement on Form S-4 for up to $200 million of securities.
• Represented a closely held corporation in terminating a 1971 coal mining lease, which, along with obtaining a cash payment of $750,000, will allow the corporation to sell approximately 20 million tons of minable coal reserve at market royalty rates for a projected financial gain of $34.4 million.
• Represented a French CAC 40 company in connection with the sale of its wind-to-energy subsidiary for $81 million.
• Represented Lehigh Gas Partners LP (NYSE: LGP), a wholesale motor fuel distributor, in connection with its $138 million initial public offering.
• Counsel in a 1031 exchange consisting of a sale of four net lease properties located in various states for $14 million, and a subsequent purchase of four replacement properties in California for $15 million.
• Represented Clarion Capital Partners, a New York private equity firm, in connection with the sale of Strategic Outsourcing, Inc., a human resources outsourcing firm, to TriNet Group, Inc.
• Represented a major French company (CAC 40) as lender and guarantor in connection with a $230 million project syndicated loan to a wind energy project.
• Represented a Virginia IT staffing and consulting company in connection with a two-step transaction involving a corporate restructuring in which the company contributed substantial amounts of its assets and liabilities to a Delaware limited liability company, which simultaneously sold its preferred units to a third party investor for $20 million.
• Represented the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the privatization of the Graduate School. Transaction involved the transfer of all of the assets and liabilities of the school to a nonprofit entity while maintaining the school's educational mission.

Professional Activities

• District of Columbia Bar Association
• Maryland Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• North Carolina Certified Public Accountant

Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Maryland

Education

• Emory University School of Law, J.D., 2005
  - Emory Law Advisory Board
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M.Acc., 1998
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.S., 1997

Experience

• Duane Morris LLP
  - Associate, 2008-present
• Muldoon Murphy & Aguggia LLP
  - Associate, 2007-2008
• Washington Gas Light Company
  - Attorney, 2005-2007
• Marc Jacobs LLC
  - Senior Accountant, 2002
• PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
  - Senior Associate, 1998-2001

Selected Publications

• Co-author, "SEC Adopts Final Rules on Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program," Duane Morris Alert, June 8, 2011; republished in the Journal of Investment Compliance, Vol. 12 No. 3, 2011
• Co-author, "U.S. Financial Reform: The Regulation of Derivatives and Swap-Trading Provisions," Duane Morris Alert, August 24, 2010
• "Private Placement Finders: Choice of Registering Is Difficult Following Recent Decisions," Duane Morris Alert, June 11, 2008