By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
With a focus on business and corporate law, attorney Gabe Edelson enjoys working with clients and learning about their businesses.
“While there can be difficult moments along the way in tough negotiations, I get a lot of personal satisfaction when a deal closes and the parties share in the excitement of a new partnership, or when a founder realizes the value in a business built by years of incredibly hard work,” he says. “Every deal is unique, and I value the opportunity to learn about different industries on a regular basis.”
Edelson recently joined Varnum’s Business and Corporate Services practice team in the firm’s Birmingham office, following six years at Honigman. Edelson began his career at Latham & Watkins in Chicago. He focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, private equity services, corporate governance and general corporate matters. He also serves as outside general counsel for clients and lead negotiator with opposing counsel on a range of matters, including numerous add-on acquisitions for high-growth private equity portfolio companies and early-stage businesses.
“Transaction sizes have spanned from under $1 million to multi-billion-dollar deals, and I’ve had the opportunity to work on many cross-border international matters as well as domestic M&A,” he says.
“The majority of my experience has been in mergers and acquisitions, but I’ve also worked on many different types of other strategic corporate matters, whether related to capital markets, corporate governance, entity formation, commercial transactions or otherwise.”
Clients have included a medical equipment provider; cyber insurance provider; pizza franchisor; owner of a minor league professional ice hockey team; lighting business; engineering business; global supplier of fasteners and automotive components; food and beverage franchisor; beverage manufacturer; payment processing business; solar design and engineering business; and many more.
A 2009 graduate of New York University School of Law, where he served as Executive Articles Editor for the Annual Survey of American Law, Edelson received his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Michigan, graduating with highest distinction.
“Going to school at U of M provided so many incredible opportunities that helped me lay the foundation for my career,” he says. “I was involved in the honors program, where I was able to research and write a thesis for graduation. The relationships I was able to build with professors, lecturers, advisors and others as part of that process made my college experience particularly memorable.
“Outside of academics, Ann Arbor is a special place. Whether it was exploring local restaurants, attending shows at small music venues, or sitting in on a lecture by a prominent business figure passing through town, it seemed like there was always something exciting to do regardless of your own personal interests.”
While at U-M, Edelson served as a senior sports editor, writer, and columnist for The Michigan Daily.
“It was a dream come true for me as a lifelong sports fan—and a Michigan fan as far back as I can remember,” he says.
“Of course, it was a very rewarding experience covering a major sport like football during my senior year, but in some ways the most satisfying experiences I had came during my time working on the beats for the smaller sports, like swimming and diving. I was able to get to know the coaches and student-athletes on a much more personal level, while also learning about the details and inner workings of sports I was naturally much less familiar with. And it never got old seeing other students around campus reading the stories my fellow sportswriters and I spent so many hours and late nights putting together.
“Writing for the paper helped me fine-tune my decision-making skills under pressure. I was often working on deadline with tight time constraints, and it was necessary to get creative when thinking of unique angles that might not be covered elsewhere.”
A history major, Edelson started thinking about law school as a means to develop a skillset that could help him in any number of different industries and career paths.
“Whether in private practice, government or in the business world, I’d heard so many stories of people succeeding with legal backgrounds that I really began focusing on law school as the next step in my development,” he says. “I felt studying law would give me the tools to solve problems and approach complicated and challenging situations much more effectively. I’ve certainly found that to be the case.”
A native of West Bloomfield, Edelson now makes his home in Bloomfield Hills with his wife, Stephanie, and daughters, Isla, 4, and Milly, 2.
In his leisure time, Edelson is an avid reader, sneaker collector and sports fan.
“When I can, I enjoy traveling, watching documentaries, trying new and interesting food—which lately has consisted of experimenting in the kitchen in place of frequent restaurant visits—and visiting art museums,” he says.
“My wife and I are both from the Detroit area, so being close to family and friends is of course one of my favorite aspects of living and working here (especially as our daughters are growing up). We’ve found Metro Detroit to be an ideal place for our young family. At the same time, I am always looking to explore parts of Southeast Michigan that are less familiar to me. I’m constantly in search of restaurants off the beaten path, interesting concerts and cultural attractions.”
Edelson has been involved in the Ben Gurion Society through NEXTGen Detroit since 2017, and regularly attends events and supports causes for organizations such as JARC and Jewish Family Service. He is particularly proud of his involvement since 2015 on the organizing committee for the annual Rub-a-Dub fund-raiser for ORT Michigan, an organization that provides critical educational and job training opportunities to hundreds of thousands of students around the world in order to enable economic self-sufficiency.
He also is involved in the Detroit Institute of Arts, jumping in as soon as he and his wife moved back to the Detroit area from Chicago in 2014. Edelson, a frequent DIA visitor since childhood, said the opportunity to join the Founders Junior Council—the DIA’s fund-raising auxiliary for young professionals—was a natural fit.
“It’s been a thrill to become much more familiar with the DIA’s world-renowned collection, to get a behind-the-scenes view of the museum’s inner workings, and, most importantly, to introduce young adults to all that the museum has to offer in an effort to encourage others’ lifelong involvement as well,” he says.
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