In the early days of the U.S. wireless industry every issue was novel: the application process, combinations into partnerships and combination of partnerships, vendor agreements, buying infrastructure, and mergers and acquisitions. Barry Adelman was a central figure in addressing all these issues, and in creating an industry that is essential to 21st Century life.
Barry has been involved in the wireless industry since its inception in the early 1980s, when the FCC was wrestling with how to mete out licenses for the new cellular service. Barry helped negotiate the settlement of several markets in Round One (markets 1 to 30). When it became clear that the FCC’s comparative hearing system used in the Round One applications would overwhelm the FCC’s processing capabilities, non-wireline applicants faced the formidable task of achieving a full settlement of markets 31 to 90 or having those markets tied up in litigation for years to come.
On December 1, 1983 Barry hosted the first meeting of the non-wireline applicants and attorneys at the Friars Club in New York. Over the next 10 months he was a key part of a group that negotiated acceptable partnership agreements and then relentlessly convinced dozens of diverse companies to combine their interests to create a single settlement partnership in each market, thus paving the way for the more expeditious licensing of non-wireline cellular systems in markets 31 to 90.
Once licensed, carriers in the new industry required contracts with the system suppliers covering procurement, construction and installation, along with accompanying vendor financing agreements. During these critical years Barry was recognized as a “go to” guy to efficiently and effectively negotiate agreements serving as a powerful and essential representative, not only of individual clients, but also of the industry as a whole.
A partner with the firm of Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP, Barry has also represented international clients in the formation, infrastructure acquisition, and project financing of telecommunications ventures in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.
Barry graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, and received his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1969. For approximately the last 15 years, he has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and teaches a seminar entitled “Anatomy of a Deal.”