John represents family-owned, closely-held and publicly-owned businesses in governance, sustainability (ESG) and social responsibility (CSR), financial and international business matters.

John practices in business organization, finance and governance at Fredrikson & Byron P.A., a Minneapolis-based law firm with offices in Iowa, North Dakota, Mexico and China. From 2011 to 2014 he was Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee (CGC) of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section. He is a member of the Section’s Governing Council and serves as Vice Chair of the Section’s Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (focusing primarily on business sustainability matters) and Co-Chair of the CGC’s Artificial Intelligence Sub-Committee.

John Co-Chairs Fredrikson & Byron’s Corporate Governance and Corporate Sustainability and Social Responsibility Groups, as well as co-chairing the firm’s working group on Artificial Intelligence. He is also a member of the firm’s Corporate, Securities, Mergers & Acquisitions and International Groups. He advises executives, boards, board committees and individual directors and officers of for-profit and nonprofit organizations on domestic and international governance, risk assessment, indemnification and insurance, legal compliance, internal investigations, board and director evaluations and performance improvement, business sustainability and social responsibility matters, oversight of Artificial Intelligence usage, and the legal implications of business strategies and decisions.

John serves as a director of several nonprofit and for-profit corporations. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Corporate Directors (and co-founder of its Minnesota Chapter), the Center for International Private Enterprise and a former Trustee of Carleton College.

John is an Adjunct Professor, co-teaching a governance course, at the University of St. Thomas Law School in Minneapolis and frequently writes and speaks on corporate governance subjects. He has also served as an expert witness on governance matters. John is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the American College of Governance Counsel. In 2018, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Corporate Governance from Twin Cities Business. He is also a member of the University of St. Thomas Twin Cities Artificial Intelligence Roundtable.

Fredrikson & Byron P.A.

At Fredrikson & Byron, we’ve built a reputation as the firm “where law and business meet” by bringing business acumen and entrepreneurial thinking to our work with clients, and by operating as business advisors and strategic partners as well as legal counselors.

A proactive, problem-solving mindset runs throughout our service areas, from our traditional legal areas of support like litigation, real estate, and intellectual property to our more consultative practices like government relations and health care consulting. It’s a mindset that enables us to understand and keep client objectives firmly in mind, and to anticipate and address problems before they arise.

Our lawyers blend a common sense approach with in-the-field experience, and we utilize our firm’s strong reputation and our lawyers’ broad networks of business and industry contacts to get things done for clients.

Clients have relied on us since 1948 for great solutions that help them minimize legal risks and maximize business benefits. We look forward to an opportunity to show you what it is like where law and business meet.