Jonathan Wilson, Corporate, eCommerce, Financial Attorney

Jonathan B. Wilson

Partner
jwilson@taylorenglish.com
678.336.7185
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Taylor English gives me the flexibility to provide clients with the level of service they want at a price that fits their budget and financing. I can pull together teams of top-flight attorneys with specific skill sets for both large and small deals and can offer clients alternative billing arrangements that are appropriate for their needs and the requirements of the deal.

Jonathan B. Wilson is an experienced business lawyer who enjoys solving complex business and transactional problems for clients. He applies his more than 25 years of experience as an in-house lawyer, business adviser and strategist to help business executives and owners achieve negotiated solutions to technology and financial transactions.

Mr. Wilson is a member of the firm’s Corporate and Business practice group and his practice includes corporate securities, corporate finance and governance, mergers and acquisitions, and intellectual property. He represents Fortune 100, middle-market and start-up companies.

Mr. Wilson was the general counsel or chief legal officer of Interland Inc., Web.com Group Inc. and EasyLink Services International Corp., where he advised senior management and the boards of directors on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting, NASDAQ compliance, Sarbanes-Oxley matters, corporate governance, governmental affairs, contracts, litigation, intellectual property and mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Wilson led Web.com’s legal department through its growth and merger with Website Pros Inc. in September 2007, at various times acting as the corporate secretary and the executive in charge of corporate development.

Mr. Wilson spent the first 10 years of his career in private practice with large Atlanta firms, including Paul Hastings LLP and King & Spalding LLP.

Mr. Wilson has represented both large and small companies in outsourcing, patent licensing, software licensing, distribution and strategic alliance agreements.

In 2009, Mr. Wilson founded the Renewable Energy Committee of the American Bar Association’s Public Utility Section, and he chaired that committee, writing and speaking frequently on renewable energy and clean technology development through 2015.

Memberships

Renewable Energy Committee, American Bar Association Public Utility Section, Chair, 2009-2015

Internet Industry Committee, ABA Public Utility Section, Chair, 1996-2009

State Bar of Georgia, Executive Committee, International Law Section, 1998-2001

State Bar of Georgia, Board of Governors, 1995-1998

Practice Highlights

Experience

  • Tax planning for renewable energy credits and grants

    Representing solar, wind, and biomass renewable energy developers in the structuring of entities to raise equity and debt supported by tax credits and grants.

  • Reliance Financial Corporation's acquisition by Fidelity Information Services

    Advised Reliance Financial Corporation on its acquisition by merger by Fidelity Information Services (NYSE: FIS). The transaction, which had an aggregate purchase price of $110 million, brought together the world’s largest provider of banking and payments technology and one of the largest independent trust companies in the United States. Assisted with the negotiation and preparation of the Agreement and Plan of Merger and the ancillary documents needed to ...

  • Private offering by Georgia bank

    Prepared a private placement memorandum and related documents, including obtaining approval from the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, for the private issuance of securities by a Georgia-chartered community bank.

  • Private offering by legal data service provider

    Prepared a private placement memorandum and related documents for a $500,000 Series A financing for a legal data service provider.

  • Establishment of United States operations for European technology company

    Represented a European software company in the establishment of its United States operations, including the formation of the U.S. subsidiary, development of product sales agreements, software license agreements, channel distribution agreements, employment law matters and related issues.

  • Sale of company VueLogic, LLC

    Represented VueLogic, LLC in sale of the company to strategic purchaser.

  • Corporate reorganization and convertible note offering

    Acted as counsel to Dew Learning in a corporate reorganization and recapitalization through which Dew Learning became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dew IT Holdings, LLC ("Holdings"), the former members of Dew Learning exchanged their interests in Dew Learning for membership interests in Holdings, and Holdings was capitalized by the sale of $2.5 million in convertible notes to its majority owners.

  • Complex renewable energy engagement for Wellons Group

    Represented Wellons Group, a manufacturer and operator of renewable energy co-generation systems using biomass as fuel. Wellons enters business relationships with industrial facilities with needs for steam and electricity usage whereby Wellons enters into leasing, financing, and power purchase agreements with those facility owners for purposes of Wellons’ establishment and operation of biomass-fuelled co-generation systems on the facility ...

  • Senior secured credit facility

    Represented Pristine Sun, LLC as the borrower on a $3.2 million credit facility provided by Partners for Growth IV, LLC, as the lender. Acted as counsel for the borrower, reviewed and negotiated the loan agreement and numerous collateral agreements, issuing an opinion as counsel to the borrower.

  • AFS Logistics' purchase of Chapter 11 debtor assets

    Represented AFS Logistics, LLC as the successful bidder to purchase substantially all of the assets of Chapter 11 Debtor Trendset, Inc., in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Spartanburg, South Carolina. We handled this matter responsively and efficiently in one week from engagement to closing, including preparing and submitting the bid, winning the bid in a competitive auction, obtaining Bankruptcy Court approval of the proposed asset purchase, and ...

  • Payday lending regulatory compliance

    Developed internal compliance procedures for a call center providing third party services to payday lending clients.

  • Recapitalization of privately-held software company

    Advise privately-held software company in offering of preferred to existing investors to repay and retire outstanding convertible notes.

  • Licensure of medical laboratory management program

    Represented the developer of efficiency-management programs in the nationwide licensure of its proprietary software to a Fortune 500 owner of medical laboratories.

  • Establishment of U.S. operations for European technology company

    Represented a European software company in the establishment of its U.S. operations, including the formation of the U.S. subsidiary, development of product sales agreements, software license agreements, channel distribution agreements, employment law matters and related issues.

  • Strategic alliance implementing sophisticated supply chain technologies

    At a previous firm, one of our attorneys represented a Fortune 500 international supply chain logistics provider in a multi-year strategic alliance agreement with a Fortune 500 automobile manufacturer that implemented sophisticated supply chain logistics technologies in the manufacturer’s supply chain. The deal was chronicled by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas L. Friedman’s book, “The World is Flat,” as one of the “ten deals that helped to ...

Newsroom

Speaking Engagements

Publications

  • "4 Ways to Make Click-Through Contracts Legal and Binding," Corporate Counsel
    April 27, 2015
  • "Crowdfunding in Georgia: Traps for the Unwary Through the Invest Georgia Exemption," The Georgia Bar Journal
    December 20, 2013
  • "Easy Guide to Intrastate Crowdfunding Through the Invest Georgia Exemption," Sterling Funder
    2013
  • Contributor, "Energy, Utility, Transportation and Environmental Law for the 21st Century: A Collection," American Bar Association
    2013
  • "Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change," December 9, 2010
  • With D. Fidler and S. Hughes. "Responding to National Security Letters: A Practical Guide for Legal Counsel," American Bar Association
    2009
  • Contributor, "The In-House Counsel's Essential Toolkit," Volume 3, American Bar Association
    2007
  • "Out of Balance: Prescriptions for Reforming the American Litigation System," iUniverse
    2005
  • Co-author and co-editor, "Internet Forms and Commentary: A Practitioner's Guide to E-Commerce Contracts and the World Wide Web," American Bar Association
    2002
  • "The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act: New Legislation for E-Commerce?" Georgia Bar Journal, 5, 3 (December 1999): 43
    December 1999
  • With Anne-Marie Gauthier and Christopher Deehy. "Franchising and the Use of Cyberspace in the Workplace," 18 Franchise L.J., 61
    Fall 1998
  • With Chris Molen. "Pitfalls in Lending to Mutual Fund Complexes," American Banker
    February 20, 1996
  • "The Lessons of Airline Deregulation and the Challenge of Foreign Ownership of U.S. Air Carriers," George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics, 24, 1, (1990): 103
    1990

Headlines

Education

George Washington University School of Law, JD, 1991

College of William and Mary, BA, with honors, 1988

Bar Admissions

Georgia

Courts & Adjudicative Bodies

Court of Appeals of Georgia

Supreme Court of Georgia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit

Accolades

Georgia Trend Legal Elite, Technology Law, 2010-2012

Georgia Trend Legal Elite, Corporate Law, 2013-2014

Best Lawyers in America® 2017