Michael D. Fricklas is Viacom's Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. He joined Viacom as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel/Corporate in 1993, became Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel in 1994 and became General Counsel in 1998. He assumed the additional title of Executive Vice President in May 2000, following the Viacom/CBS merger. As General Counsel, he is responsible for Viacom’s legal affairs and management of its law department. A former mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer, Mr. Fricklas has played key roles in a wide variety of corporate transactions, litigation, intellectual property, policy and other matters while at Viacom.
Mr. Fricklas received a B.S.E.E. from the University of Colorado, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1981 and a J.D. magna cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 1984. Mr. Fricklas is a member of the Board of Trustees of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Board of Trustees of the American Jewish Committee, New York Chapter, the Advisory Board of the Legal Aid Society, and the Board of Visitors of Boston University School of Law. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of General Counsel and the immediate past chair of the General Counsel Committee of the New York City Bar Association. Mr. Fricklas also is a member of various other bar associations including the General Counsel Committee of the National Center for State Courts, the Board of the National Chamber Litigation Center, and the General Counsel Committee of the American Bar Association. Mr. Fricklas has given numerous professional presentations and published several articles. He has also received several awards including the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Excellence in Corporate Practice Award, Boston University School of Law’s “Silver Shingle” for distinguished service to the school of law, the American Jewish Committee’s Stanley M. Isaacs Human Relations Award, the UJA/Federation Steven E. Banner Award and the Boy Scout’s “Good Scout” Award for outstanding community service. He is a member of The Century Association.