Professional Biography of Frank P. DiPrima

 Summary 

I dedicated two decades to representing corporations as a house counsel and general counsel.  Next, I served as a COO and CEO of public and private companies for about a dozen years.  Now, I represent plaintiffs whom I believe are victims of unfaithful corporate insiders or unfair use of corporate power.  I am a graduate of Cornell University and Columbia Law School.

 

Chronology

2000 to Present: Law Office of Frank DiPrima, P.A. (NJ):  Represents plaintiffs in suits challenging breaches of fiduciary duty by corporate insiders, breaches of duty to corporations by their accounting firms and other third-party advisors, unjust enrichment of insiders, and business fraud.  (See “Description of Practice” and “Judicial Decisions” sections of this website.)   

1997 to 2000: Law firm of DiPrima & Hoffman (NJ). 

1994 to 1996: GenDerm Corp. (Pharmaceutical):  CEO. 

1990 to 1994: Western Publishing Group, Inc. (NYC):  President, COO & director of publishing and games company. 

1987 to 1990: Thompson Medical Company, Inc. (later called Slim-Fast Foods Corp.) (NYC):  Chief Operating Officer of this NYSE, later private, company.  Between these years, company grew from $140 million to $1 billion in sales.   

1984-1987: Jeffrey Martin, Inc.:  Chief Operating Officer of this publicly traded consumer products company.   

1983-1984: Clapp & Eisenberg (NJ) (Newark NJ):  Partner, chair of corporate law department. 

1978-1983: Playboy Enterprises, Inc.  (Chicago):  Sr. Vice President & General Counsel.   

1969-1978: Schering-Plough Corporation (NJ [1969-1971 and 1976-1978] and Memphis TN [1971-1976]):  Corporate Vice President and Associate General Counsel, and Chief Legal Officer of Plough, Inc. 

1965-1969: Merck & Co., Inc. (NJ):  Attorney. 

1962-1965: Federal Trade Commission (NY): Attorney. 

1961-1962: U.S. Army:  Private First Class!

Education:

Cornell University, A.B. 1958.

Columbia Law School, J.D. 1961. 

Memberships and Publications 

Bar Admissions:   New Jersey, 1984 (active). New York, 1963; Tennessee, 1972; and Illinois, 1983 (inactive). 

Leadership of Playboy Enterprises Law Department was the subject of case study in Harvard Business Review, “Managing Your Lawyers,” Chayes, Greenwald and Winig, Jan-Feb 1983. 

In 1970’s, while at Schering-Plough:

  • Published seven articles on food & drug law and the law of advertising.
  • Chair, Subcommittee on Cosmetics Law, ABA (1969-1973).
  • Lectured at NYU Law School and Practicing Law Institute.

Trade Association Responsibilities

Non-Prescription Drug Manufacturers’ Assoc. (renamed Consumer Healthcare Products Assoc). 

  • Board of Directors, 1975-1978, 1986-1990, 1995-1996.
  • Chairman, Government Affairs Comm., 1974-1976.
  • Chairman, Trade Regulation Rule Task Force, 1975-1978. Organized and led multi-disciplinary industry-wide task force that successfully defeated two FTC proposed rules that would have crippled the advertising of non-Rx drugs.  Managed industry’s participation in these two huge rulemaking proceedings, and achieved total victory.
  • Chairman, two industry task forces monitoring FDA’s review and approval of over-the-counter drugs (1972-1976). 

Toy Manufacturers of America. Member, board of directors, 1992-1994.