James D. Rosener

Jim is a fellow of The Pepper Center for Public Service. The Pepper Center draws on the talents of the firm’s retired partners and senior attorneys to wrestle with tough problems facing our communities. Through the Center, these attorneys study, analyze, and work to resolve problems that affect the lives of people in our communities.

Jim focused his practice on domestic and international transactions and corporate finance. He advised private equity funds and corporations pursuing growth in the U.S. and throughout the world, including Europe, Latin America, and Asia. His clients were involved in a variety of sectors and subsectors such as fintech, software, software-enabled services, health care and life sciences, business services, industrial, and manufacturing.

Jim structured and negotiated major transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, platform and follow-on acquisitions; distressed buyouts, corporate carve-outs, and restructurings. He represented U.S.-based companies in transactions throughout the world, and was particularly experienced in the United Kingdom, Europe, India, and China. Companies based in Europe, India, South America, and Asia relied on Jim’s guidance through mergers and acquisitions, financing, and licensing transactions with domestic implications. He also worked with management-led groups in the acquisition of businesses from divesting corporations.

Jim also advised corporations and financial institutions on all aspects of domestic and international public offerings and other capital markets transactions. He represented domestic and foreign issuers in public offerings in U.S. and foreign listings, venture and mezzanine capital raising, and traditional bank financing transactions. His clients also included issuers and bondholder groups in debt restructuring, recapitalization, and work-outs. Jim regularly served as international legal counsel to issuers and underwriters on off-shore public offerings in India, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

Jim is a leader in the international business and legal communities, and a well-known advocate for expanding cross-border economic ties. He is the founder and president of the European American Chamber of Commerce in New York and co-founder of its Paris-based chapter. He has served as president of the Corporate Law and Mergers and Acquisitions Commission of the Union Internationale des Avocats/International Association of Lawyers (UIA) since 2016.

Jim has decades of experience as a member of the board of directors of numerous companies, including several with international operations. He is president and a board member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, and is active in the Association for Corporate Growth, whose New York chapter named Jim “Lawyer of the Year” in 2015.

Long active in charitable and community matters, Jim is also founder and chairman of the board of the American Battle Monuments Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to augment and expand the work of the American Battle Monuments Commission, an independent U.S. agency that operates 26 cemeteries and 29 memorials, monuments, and markers in 16 countries commemorating the U.S. armed forces.

• Awarded the Legion of Honor at the rank of Chevalier by the Republic of France (2025)
• Super Lawyers: New York – Corporate (2004, 2006, 2010, 2012-2018, 2020-2023)
• Chambers USA: “Recognized Practitioner” (2018-2019)
• India Business Law Journal A-List (2024)
• Recipient of Medal for Distinguished Achievement by the American Society of the French Legion of Honor (2021)
• Selected as Lawyer of the Year in the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) New York Chapter’s 5th Annual Champion’s Awards (2015)