Todd Freed ’97 Honored with Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award
Todd Freed’s ’97 career since graduating from Moritz Law has been nothing short of meteoric. He began his practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York City, focusing on sophisticated mergers and acquisitions transactions.
Three years ago, Todd had the opportunity to join the insurance sub-group, representing large insurance companies in complex merger and acquisition transactions. The sub-group grew significantly with Todd’s contributions, including the recruitment of talented lateral associates with insurance industry experience, and it was combined with Skadden’s banking group to become the Financial Institutions Group (the “FIG Group”) of Skadden.
Classmate and nominator Brian Burns ’97 notes, “[Todd] has actively mentored new hires and associates within the group to develop them professionally and inspire in them by example the kind of loyalty and team spirit that he brings to his work. His clients trust him implicitly and most tellingly, continue to bring new transactions to the firm, asking for Todd personally to run their transactions.”
As dedicated as Todd has been to the firm and his clients, he is also passionate in his support of his alma mater. Skadden colleague Chris Ulery ’97 notes, “Immediately upon joining Skadden, Todd was determined to increase the ranks of OSU alumni within Skadden. As a first-year associate, he took the initiative to represent Skadden on campus at OSU for the annual 2L recruiting process and has done so every year since, including after having pulled all-nighters to fit it into his busy schedule. He has facilitated the extension of offers and/or hiring of numerous OSU law students at various Skadden offices (not just New York).”
Brian adds, “Todd’s ability to convince Skadden Arps to come to campus had a multiplier effect. I pointed to his achievement to help me convince the Hiring Partner at my Wall Street law firm, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, to allow me to recruit on-campus and compete with him for Ohio State’s top students each year. Even though I left Cleary Gottlieb in 2002, the firm still continues to interview successfully on campus, because other Ohio State alumni have taken my place.”
Both in work and in life, Todd’s is the kind of passion that inspires others to make their own contributions. The college is proud to acknowledge his dedication to the college and to the profession with the Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award for 2007-2008.
