Frank J. Aquila

Francis J. (Frank) Aquila (born February 3, 1957, New York City, New York, United States) is a corporate lawyer whose practice focuses on mergers & acquisitions and corporate governance matters. Following graduation from Columbia University (BA, 1979) and Brooklyn Law School (JD, 1983), Aquila joined Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and he became a partner of the firm in 1992.

Aquila received the prestigious [http://www.burtonawards.com Burton Award for Legal Achievement] in 2005 for his article “Back to the Future! Recent Hostile Bids Make Takeover Defenses Relevant” ("The M&A Lawyer", June 2004). Aquila has been consistently ranked as one of the top m&a lawyers by [http://www.chambersandpartners.com/us/default.asp?action=rf&rf=fprofile2_2&fid=3663 Chambers and Partners] and by [http://www.bestlawyers.com The Best Lawyers in America] . Frank Aquila has been featured twice in [http://www.americanlawyer.com/ "The American Lawyer"] , “Daddy’s Weekend on the Phone” (January 2002) and “Supersonic Lawyers” (May 2004); and once in the [http://online.wsj.com/article_print/PA2VJBNA4R/SB83347953842803/ "Wall Street Journal"] , "Business Trips Leave Little Time for Luxuries" (May 31, 1996).

Aquila regularly appears as a guest on [http://www.cnbc.com CNBC] , [http://www.foxbusiness.com Fox Business News] , [http://www.bloomberg.net Bloomberg Television] and [http://www.bloomberg.net Bloomberg Radio] discussing topics relating to mergers, acquisitions and corporate governance. A frequent writer and speaker on these topics, Aquila has chaired a number of [http://www.pli.org Practicing Law Institute] programs focused on private equity and going private transactions.

[http://www.sullcrom.com/aquilafrancisj/ Frank Aquila] generally represents large multinational corporations in significant transactions and has represented British Airways, Diageo, Amgen, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, EchoStar, InBev, Sainsbury, Payless ShoeSource, Pharmacia, Burger King, Pillsbury and Medtronic. Mr. Aquila served as lead counsel to InBev in their successful unsolicited bid for Anheuser-Busch [http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/07/14/whaaaassuup-skaddens-schnell-greenberg-deliver-a-b-to-inbev/] , the largest all-cash acquisition ever according to [http://www.dealogic.com/en/mergers.htm# Dealogic] .

Aquila is the Chair-elect of the Board of Trustees of the [http://www.nalpfoundation.org NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education] ; he also serves on the Board of Directors of [http://www.dressforsuccess.org Dress for Success Worldwide] , the Board of Trustee of [http://www.brooklaw.edu Brooklyn Law School] and the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army of Greater of New York, he has previously served as a member of the [http://www.dnc.org Democratic National Committee] and the Education and Training Council of the Democratic Party.