Michael D. Fricklas is Viacom's Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. He joined Viacom as a Vice President, Deputy General Counsel/Corporate in 1993, became Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel in 1994 and became General Counsel in 1998. Mr. Fricklas assumed the additional title of Executive Vice President in May 2000, following the Viacom/CBS merger. As General Counsel, Mr. Fricklas is responsible for Viacom's legal affairs and management of its law department. A former mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer, Mr. Fricklas has played key roles in Viacom's mergers with Paramount and Blockbuster in 1994, the Viacom/CBS merger in 2000, and the sales of Madison Square Garden and Simon & Schuster's educational, business and professional businesses, and many other major transactions and litigation matters.