Jonathan M. Minnen

Jonathan M. Minnen is a Partner in the Corporate Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP and participates in several of the Firm’s Practice Groups. He chairs the Corporate Practice Department for the Firm.

Mr. Minnen has extensive experience in a wide range of U.S. and overseas business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and ongoing transactional matters. These include the acquisition and disposition of manufacturing plants and equipment, supply and distribution agreements, research, development and production agreements, software licensing, support and maintenance agreements, strategic partnerships, clinical studies and capital formation. His client experience includes businesses which range in size from emerging companies to large publicly traded enterprises, both domestic and overseas. These clients have been involved in a variety of industries including soft drink bottling, carpet and textile manufacturing, electronic controls, professional service companies in various industry sectors and disciplines, healthcare and financial information systems, medical devices, biomedical polymers, “CleanTech”, electronic controls, automated warehouse and parking systems and technologies involving the telecommunications industry. Many of his clients develop and market cutting-edge technology in a variety of sectors. For some of his clients, Mr. Minnen functions as de facto outside general counsel and is responsible for managing those clients’ entire legal portfolios, which involves routinely teaming with other practice groups of the Firm to achieve the client’s objectives.

Mr. Minnen has taken an active role in developing the Firm’s Israeli Initiative and is head of the Firm’s Israel Practice Group. This highly effective program assists Israeli companies with their expansion in the United States. As part of his ongoing efforts, Mr. Minnen is secretary of the Board of Directors and a member of the Executive Committee and the Clean-Tech Committee of the American Israel Chamber of Commerce. The Clean-Tech Committee assists Israeli companies with cutting edge environmental sustainability and “clean-tech” technologies to bring those key solutions to the United States.

Before embarking on a legal career, Mr. Minnen was a senior executive in a multistate chain of retail stores and brings this business background and experience to his practice of law.

Mr. Minnen attended the University of Illinois, earning his B.S. in Business, cum laude, from Murray State University in 1985. He earned his J.D. from the Emory University School of Law in 1988, where he was on the Dean’s List. He was elected by the faculty of the law school to be a national member of the Order of Barristers and was also a member of the Moot Court Society, winning the 1987 Law Day Competition and receiving the Arthur K. Bolton Best Brief Award.

Mr. Minnen is a member of the bars of Georgia, New York, North Carolina (inactive) and Tennessee.

Certifications of Specialization are available to Tennessee lawyers in all areas of practice relating to or included in the areas of Civic Trial, Criminal Trial, Business Bankruptcy, Consumer Bankruptcy, Creditor’s Rights, Medical Malpractice, Legal Malpractice, Accounting Malpractice, Elder Law, Estate Planning and Family Law. Any listing of related or included practice areas herein does not constitute or imply a representation of specialization. These disclosures are required by the Supreme Court of Tennessee.