With offices in Milwaukee and Kohler, WI, Copper Truss focuses on investing in Midwestern privately-held businesses seeking a conservative capital partner with a flexible duration and hands-on philosophy to value creation. Our experience and relationships with business-focused investors and operating partners provide a strategic advantage in driving sustainable business growth in our investments. We promote a partnership-first mentality and focus on empowering businesses to grow strategically, while preserving the existing culture and investing in the people and communities they serve.

Manufacturer of BBQ wood products and private labeling.

- Represent clients in complex and sophisticated financial transactions. - Represent real estate developers in the purchase, sale, leasing or financing of property. - Counsel financial institutions with financing real estate loans, commercial lending, agricultural lending, and new market tax credits, and other tax financing.Experience and relevant client matters include:- Represent global financial institution in participation into $300,000,000 multi-lender, multi-tranche asset-based credit facility loan to one of the country’s largest agricultural producers.- Represent national and regional financial institutions in large syndicated, participated, and single bank construction, acquisition, and refinance loan transactions for commercial real estate properties across the United States.- Represent borrowers, lenders, leverage lenders, and community development entities in new market tax credit financing transactions across the United States.- Represent national waterpark developers in acquisition, development, and re-development of waterpark resort hotel facilities across the United States.- Represented a professional football team in negotiating and documenting one of the largest stadium naming rights deals in the nation, as well as in acquiring land for the development of the team’s headquarters and practice facility.

Transactional Group; Land and Resources Group.A member of the Transactional Group and Land and Resources Group in the Milwaukee office. His practice focuses on corporate and commercial transactions in real estate, real estate tax credits, formation, commercial contracts, licensing, services, M&A and finance. He has extensive experience drafting and negotiating commercial real estate purchase and sale agreements, leases, easement agreements, real estate loan documents and credit agreements, and commercial agreements of a wide variety across several industries, including large sports stadiums and other institutional facilities.

Transactions Counsel in the Tax Department working on global corporate, tax, and finance initiatives.

Commercial Real Estate Transactions; Real Estate Development and Investments; Sports Business & Public Venues

For the first three and a half years of his career, Derek practiced litigation at Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., handling a broad base of complex commercial litigation matters.Representative Experience: Member of four-person litigation team that successfully defended against all claims against one of the world's largest global financial institutions; after disposing of claims for tortious interference with a contract, fraud and alter ego on summary judgment, the plaintiffs' sole remaining claim was for breach of contract; following a three-day bench trial in Texas state court, the Court ordered the plaintiffs to recover nothing and awarded taxable court costs to our client Obtained summary judgment in Texas state court for one of the nation's largest home improvement and building materials corporations in a commercial real estate dispute Researched and drafted legal memoranda and pleadings, and key member during discovery, for team that obtained $100+ million settlement in favor of a dozen commercial bank clients in breach of contract lawsuit against the principals of one of the largest privately held homebuilders in the United States Key member of four-attorney team involved in defending a company involved with line-locating services in the oil and gas industry; suits were filed after a gas line explosion involving a fatality and injuries to others; very successful settlements were reached on the eves of trials and after extensive discovery Represented officer of large publicly traded company in derivative shareholder and bankruptcy suits Drafted pleadings and discovery in suit that successfully secured emergency injunctive relief on behalf of one of the nation's largest rent-to-own companies against a vendor Draft memoranda and analyze data for several healthcare companies to advise them on a variety of legal issues, including debt collection practices, care of institutionalized patients, and payor agreements

Draft employment, settlement, waiver, sponsorship, and ballpark use agreements. Conduct legal research and write memoranda to Associate Counsel regarding legal problems facing the Dallas Stars or Texas Rangers; research trademark uses.

Compiled research and then drafted memoranda and visuals to depict numerous baseball park financing structures and terms in relation to Miller Park's financing structure.

Conducted research and prepared memoranda regarding multi-state issues involving e-discovery, duty to mitigate damages, and recovery of attorney's fees. Drafted Motion for Summary Judgment and Supporting Brief and assisted with deposition for breach of contract case in federal court.

January 2010 start dateConducted research and prepared memoranda involving choice of law principles, forum selection, recovery of attorney's fees, and usury. Assisted with drafting documents for a transaction to raise capital on behalf of a large publicly traded

Researched legal issues and prepared memoranda for Compliance Director on internal contractual and promissory estoppel issues brought by former student-athlete. Drafted self-reports for level two violations after researching NCAA precedent and interpreting NCAA Manual Policies. Created a system for and drafted the new SMU Letter Award Criteria Policy.

Research and prepare legal memoranda and pleadings for issues facing indigent clients.