- Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SamAni
- General Counsel to Consolidated Ventures International
Peter Friesen received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy at Williams College in 1978. He thereafter attended graduate school in Public Administration at the University of Southern California, and received his law degree from the University of California, Hastings in 1982. Following graduation he received a research grant to study and write concerning the basis of hierarchy in bureaucratic organizations. In 1983 he entered into private practice in San Diego, and continued in private practice until March, 2007.
In the first years of his practice, Mr. Friesen tried criminal and civil cases before San Diego juries. He continued in a civil practice in the litigation of numerous business disputes. He has assumed the role of lead counsel in anti-trust cases, corporate and partnership dissolutions, slander and defamation against publishing entities, civil rights litigation alleging incompetent supervision and policy administration, and legal malpractice claims alleging mishandling of complex business disputes. He has examined and cross-examined hundreds of expert witnesses in many academic subjects. He has twice been placed on the list of “America’s Best Lawyers” and has received four San Diego County Outstanding Trial Lawyer Awards. His legal practice includes much significant appellate work on nuanced and controversial legal subjects. He is easily qualified to teach as a law professor on the subjects of Contract, Civil Procedure, Business Torts, Employment and Civil Rights.
His academic and theoretical interests are not limited to legal subjects. Mr. Friesen has participated in two administrative studies of court systems, one in Washington D.C. and another in San Francisco. Results of those studies have since contributed to the formulation of “Fast Track” civil case management programs which have been adopted across the nation.
He has been interested in water purification technology, and is one of the founding investors in Pure O Tech, Inc., a water purification technology company, and served as the chairman of its board of directors for several years. He participated in the design, orientation, costing, and marketing of water systems at Pure O Tech when the water technologies were first being created.
While pursuing a legal career, he completed a treatise on the topic of “freedom” which discusses symmetries existing between intellectual, moral, political and spiritual development. His work is built on empirical research of Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg in childhood development and Elliot Jaques in adult career development and its relationship to management hierarchies. As a result of his work in Requisite Organization, Mr. Friesen has served on the advisory board of Requisite Organization International Institute (ROII), an organization conceived and founded by Elliot Jaques.
Mr. Friesen’s familiarity with diverse legal and employment structures benefits from both a practical and theoretical interest.?? Accordingly, he is able to transition quickly between (1) matters of organization and practice necessary to form effective operations and maintenance organizations and (2) the complex legal and public policy considerations associated with the formation of a replicable business models suitable for international markets.