Mercedes McFarland Jackson and Melodie Rose Receive Top Women in Law Award from Minnesota Lawyer

Fredrikson shareholder Mercedes McFarland Jackson and president Melodie R. Rose have been honored with Minnesota Lawyer’s Top Women in Law Award. The award celebrates leaders in the legal industry who have recent professional achievements, an outstanding record of pro bono work and community engagement and who display leadership and passion in their work as an attorney. The women will be celebrated at a special awards dinner in Minneapolis in October.

Jackson specializes in debt finance transactions and advises clients on compliance matters under financing and corporate governance documents. Jackson has represented corporate borrowers, private equity groups and financial institutions in connection with secured and unsecured commercial lending transactions, including acquisition financings, senior, second-lien and mezzanine financings, secured bond offerings, debt restructurings and debtor-in-possession financings. In addition to her work, Jackson serves on the firm's Inclusion and Diversity Committee and Recruiting & Hiring Committee. She also serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Governance and Nominations Committee for the Science Museum of Minnesota, and is a member of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s Bizwomen Leadership Council. Through her business, PAR365, Jackson is a member of the Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce, the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce, Visit Saint Paul and the National Concierge Association. 

A veteran of the firm for more than 30 years, Rose currently serves as president of Fredrikson as well as a member of the Board of Directors and Compensation Committee. In her legal practice, Rose has experience in corporate representation, including securities regulation, corporate governance, capital market transactions and business planning.  During her career, Rose served in many leadership roles at Fredrikson, including as Chair of Fredrikson’s Business Division and Co-Chair of its Corporate Governance and Public Companies/Capital Markets Groups. In addition to her work with clients and management responsibilities at Fredrikson, Rose is active in the national and local corporate governance communities. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors and participates in Minnesota Women Corporate Directors. She teaches corporate governance as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and serves on its Board of Governors. Rose is also a member of the Minnesota Business Partnership’s Board of Directors and is a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel, an organization of leading corporate governance lawyers from the U.S. and Canada.

Fredrikson & Byron is a leading Midwest law firm working collaboratively to help businesses achieve their goals regionally, nationally and globally. With a reputation as the firm “where law and business meet,” our attorneys bring business acumen and entrepreneurial thinking to work with clients and operate as business advisors and strategic partners as well as legal counselors. The firm’s 400+ attorneys are based in Minneapolis, with offices in Ames, Bismarck, Des Moines, Fargo, Madison, Mankato, St. Paul, Saltillo, Mexico, and Shanghai, China. Learn more at fredlaw.com or LinkedIn.