Business Law Center of the Palm Beaches - Attorney Profile

Jay E. Eckhaus - Business Law Attorney

After 4 years of business law and real estate law practice in New York City, Jay was recruited by Kraft/General Foods Corporation, White Plains, New York to become the primary antitrust, marketing and franchise attorney for its Burger Chef Systems franchising subsidiary. 

While practicing franchise law with Burger Chef, Jay wrote the company’s first Uniform Franchise Offering Circular immediately following the Federal Trade Commission’s adoption of the franchise rules.

The next 16 years with Kraft/General Foods bought Jay ever-increasing responsibility in the areas of business transactions, mergers and acquisitions, employment issues, corporate finance, securities, consumer affairs, franchising and distributing, advertising and marketing, intellectual property, antitrust, crisis management, arbitration and litigation. 

Jay’s involvement in mergers and acquisitions included: Acquisition of Oscar Meyer & Company, Acquisition of Entenmann’s Inc., Acquisition of Mexican Foods of America, Inc., Acquisition of Charles Freihofer Baking Company, Sale of Burger Chef Systems, Inc., Sale of Meriwether’s Restaurants, Inc., Sale of Mexican Foods of America, Inc. and the merger between Phillip Morris Inc. and General Foods.

In the area of corporate finance, Jay was involved in the $100 million Guaranteed Debentures offering of GFC International Finance NV and  the $3,300,000 Delaware Economic Development  Authority Pollution Control Revenue Bonds transaction.

Jay’s other accomplishments while at Kraft/General Foods include:
 
    (1) Responsibility for all FTC and Department of Justice filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino
          Pre-Merger Notification Act.
    (2) Chairing the Post cereals consumer advertising review Board.
    (3) Challenges to competitive advertising at the National Advertising Division,
          Better Business Bureau and at TV networks.

Jay ultimately becoming Vice President and Chief Counsel of General Foods Bakery Companies, Inc., a company with more than one billion dollars in annual sales and selling products under the Entenmann’s, Oroweat, Boboli, and Freihofer’s trademarks.

Jay is a founding member of the Corporate Counsel Section of the New York State Bar Association.  While a member of the Corporate Counsel Section, Jay was elected to the Executive Committee and Chaired both the Mergers and Acquisitions Committee and the Commercial Arbitration and Litigation Committee.

Following Kraft/General Foods, Jay became Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for the U.S. operations of the leading Swedish technology and manufacturing multinational company, Alfa-Laval, where he focused on commercial and technology transactions, employment law and risk management.

Jay reentered the private practice of business law in New York City in 1991.

In 1998, Jay became Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of a Ft. Lauderdale based NASDAQ traded and marketer of point-of-care medical diagnostic products for use at home, in physician offices, and other healthcare locations where his practice concentrated on business transactions, technology licensing, distributing, corporate finance and employment law. 

In 2001, Jay established his current Business Law practice in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.  He is also a director of an internet based e-commerce business.

His education includes a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree from Bowling Green State University where he concentrated in marketing and management and received a Juris Doctor Degree from The Ohio State University.

Jay was elected president of The Ohio State Alumni Club of Greater New York City, and received the Individual Accomplishment Award from The Ohio State University Alumni Association .

Jay received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Northern Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce.  He also serves as an arbitrator for FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, formerly known as NASD. 

Jay is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).