“He saves his fights for what really matters, not merely to feel vindicated,” Morgan says.
Morgan also notes Feuer focuses on business first and judiciously chooses his litigation fights. “His deep litigation experience also means Brad has realistic expectations and knows outcomes are not science.” As a result, he does not over-manage day-to-day execution,” Morgan says. “Brad hires lawyers he trusts and jointly game-plans the entire litigation from day one. He estimates those have saved Barnes & Noble millions or even tens of millions of dollars. What stand out is Feuer’s tactical abilities and litigation sense, Eiseman says. “Brad’s approach in working with his outside counsel promotes a real partnership, which I have always found to be the most effective way to achieve the best result possible,” says Eiseman.Įiseman, Morgan and Feuer have teamed up for a decade, primarily on intellectual property litigation and class action matters. “While we sell online, and will continue to do so, the experience is never the same as wandering through aisles of books.” Staying in focusįeuer’s abilities in managing change and handling risk have impressed Shon Morgan and David Eiseman, attorneys at the firm of Quinn Emanuel who have worked with him as outside counsel. People love browsing for books as much as they enjoy reading,” Feuer says. The retail arm will remain strong, he predicts, even as e-readership led to the development of the company’s NOOK brand of e-reading products and changed how he negotiated contracts to obtain the electronic rights for content. Inside those stores, managers are getting more autonomy in decisions on what to stock, Feuer says. The days of opening stores large enough to serve as anchor tenants may be gone, but the company still serves 620 communities and all 50 states. To be sure, Feuer has seen plenty of change during his 20-plus years at the company’s legal helm. The new bylaws are quite different, he says, requiring a larger degree of board oversight on spending and contracts, as well as additional oversight of how the company re-envisions its future-both in brick-and-mortar stores and online. “It’s true I don’t have the SEC reporting requirements now, but we still have a board and need to answer to it.”Īs the company changed from publicly to privately held, Feuer relied on the expertise of outside counsel to ensure filings were done correctly, but he also turned his attention to setting up the new corporate governance structure. “This really was entering into a different world,” Feuer says. Then he worked through the due diligence, including negotiating the acquisition agreements, and finally filed delisting documents with the U.S. Working with the Barnes & Noble Board of Directors and its Special Committee, he helped set up the bidding process. The story of Barnes & Noble turned a new page in the summer of 2019, when the company was acquired by the United Kingdom arm of New York-based fund managers Elliot Management Corp.-26 years after it first went public.įeuer, who also serves as vice president and corporate secretary, was tasked with bringing the company private. I just wouldn’t be where I am now without those experiences.” Rewrites needed “If I hadn’t gone off the path, I wouldn’t be general counsel now. “Sometimes moving forward isn’t done on the path that is well worn,” Feuer says. Barnes to its emergence as a global retailer under the ownership and leadership of Len Riggio.įor the last 20 years, Brad Feuer has been part of that unfolding story, bearing witness to everything from major acquisitions to the challenges posed by ecommerce.Īs the company’s general counsel, Feuer has helped plot the legal course for the largest bookseller in the U.S.-even as his own narrative was a bit more meandering in the years before he joined Barnes & Noble in 1999. The chapters that tell the history of Barnes & Noble cover almost 150 years, from the company’s humble roots as the home business of Charles M.
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