John W. Fricks
Partner
Attorney Profile
John W. Fricks is a partner in Ogden & Fricks LLP, specializing in real estate and business trials and transactions. Mr. Fricks is a 1987 graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (B.S. Computer Science). He then attended Boston University School of Law, where he graduated with honors (J.D. 1990, cum laude). Mr. Fricks has been admitted to practice law in California, the Central, Northern, and Eastern Districts of California, the District of Hawaii, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
At the outset of his career, Mr. Fricks was an associate in the Century City and Los Angeles offices of the international law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. After 7 years at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Mr. Fricks became Vice-President of Loss Mitigation at a national mortgage lender. In 1998, Mr. Fricks moved back to the Central Coast, initially opening his own practice, before forming the firm with Mr. Ogden in July 2000.
Mr. Fricks is an experienced trial and transactional attorney who represents many businesses as outside corporate counsel and, specifically, in contract drafting and review, leases, entity formations and business acquisitions and sales. He also has handled numerous business, real estate, and construction disputes in arbitration and in state and federal court. His representative matters include:
- Acting as Lender's counsel on a $19 MM financing as part of the acquisition of a local hotel;
- Representing over a dozen local businesses sold for an aggregate total of $175 MM;
- Sales/Acquisitions of, among other things, a dental surgery firm, a hearing aid center, party supply rental company, a sleep diagnostic center, an orthopedic surgery practice, a county fair catering company, high tech firms, and downtown SLO commercial real property;
- Representing local banks and mortgage lenders and borrowers in workouts, foreclosures, and bankruptcies (creditors only);
- Prevailing in trials in adversary proceedings in bankruptcy court seeking non-dischargeability and damages;
- Successfully defending appeals in the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Ventura division of the California Court of Appeals
- Successfully defending at trial a local businessman against fraud, wrongful termination, and conversion claims totaling $850,000;
- Successfully defending at trial an individual against a $1.7 MM claim made on a personal guaranty;
- Prosecuting and defending construction defects, non-disclosure, and prescriptive easement cases.
Since 1998, Mr. Fricks has been on the County’s Mock Trial Committee and has been chairman of that Committee since 2001. The Mock Trial Committee organizes competitions in mock trial, courtroom artist, brief-writing, and courtroom journalist categories for both junior and senior high schools.