About

‘The most fulfilling aspect of being an in-house lawyer at a public company is being centrally involved in the decision-making process on an ongoing basis,’ says Dana Klein. ‘The in-house lawyer gets the opportunity to develop relationships with many departments throughout the company and to be involved early on in important initiatives that will affect the company’s business and future prospects. This is exciting stuff’. Iconic US brand Wendy’s is the world’s third largest fast food hamburger chain after Burger King and McDonalds, with growing activity in emerging markets such as India and Georgia. Executive leadership team member and veteran employee Dana Klein has led multiple strategic transactions, including Tim Hortons’ merger, IPO and eventual spin-off in 2006, the Triarc Companies merger and numerous debt offerings. Klein has also been active in bringing more work in-house, particularly in corporate governance, securities and contract negotiation. Klein’s greatest challenge, like many other in-house lawyers, is ‘doing less with more’, as fewer numbers do more work to tackle budgetary pressures. ‘This can be professionally fulfilling but it also requires lawyers to work outside their comfort zones’. Klein feels law firms have become much more value focused since the 2008 downturn, but says this needs to continue as M&A activity picks up. Managing expectations and risks in disputes, is also an important area for firms to focus on, he says. Klein is a long-serving member of the Ohio State Bar Association and the Corporation Law. He is also a securities dispute arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).