Ralf Boer is a retired partner and corporate lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP, where his areas of practice included transnational and domestic mergers, acquisitions and other business combinations and international business transactions. He focused his practice on clients from and transactions in Europe, and practiced for the firm in Frankfurt, Germany from 1975 to 1976. Ralf served as chairman and CEO of the firm (2002-2011) and as a member of the firm’s Management Committee (1992-2011). In addition, he is a past chair of the firm’s Business Law Department and of the International Practice. Ralf was a member of the Transactional & Securities Practice.
Awards and Recognitions
Ralf has been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell’s peer review rating system. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America© for his work in corporate law, international trade and finance law, and mergers & acquisitions law and has been named 2012, 2014 and 2015 Milwaukee International Trade and Finance Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America©. Ralf is listed in Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. He has also been selected for inclusion in the 2006—2008 and 2011-2012 lists for Wisconsin Super Lawyers®. In 1999, Ralf was named Knight, First Class of the Order of the Lion of Finland, awarded by the President of the Republic of Finland.
Affiliations
Ralf’s international business law activities are extensive. He is a member of the board of directors of Fiskars Corporation (Helsinki, Finland), listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, and is a member of Fiskars’ Compensation Committee. He also served as general (outside) counsel for numerous European clients. In the U.S., Ralf is a member of the board of directors of Plexus Corp., a NASDAQ-listed company, and is a member of Plexus’ Compensation and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees. He was a member of the board of directors of Exide Electronics Group, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina until its acquisition by BTR plc in 1998.
Presentations and Publications
Ralf is co-author of the German “Labor/ Management Relations Act/Betriebsverfassungsgesetz,” Frankfurt, 1977 and 1983, and author of numerous legal articles.
Languages
Ralf is fluent in German.