XL Fleet Vehicle Electrification Effort Gets Ex-Herbalife Lawyer

XL Fleet Corp., a vehicle electrification company that went public in December, has recruited a former legal chief-turned-investment banker to be its top lawyer.

James Berklas, former chief compliance officer at Herbalife Nutrition Ltd., who went on to serve as general counsel for aviation company the Barnes Group Inc., has been named XL Fleet’s general counsel and vice president of corporate development, the Boston-based company said Tuesday.

Berklas will oversee its “legal and compliance functions and help execute upon its corporate development initiatives, including strategic M&A investments,” XL Fleet said in a statement.

His hire comes after the newly-public business agreed to merge in September with Pivotal Investment Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company controlled by Jon Ledecky, co-owner of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders, and MGG Investment Group LP CEO Kevin Griffin.

Berklas said he was hired after XL Fleet realized it needed a top lawyer with “public company and corporate development experience” and sought recommendations from its outside counsel. Currently the sole in-house lawyer, he said in an email he’s optimistic that as the business expands, “we’ll be adding to the legal team.”

XL Fleet CEO Dimitri Kazarinoff said the addition of Berklas and others—it also touted its hire of clean energy executive Colleen Calhoun—will “help the company execute on its rapid growth plans.” The company cited Berklas’ 25 years of legal experience in closing “over 200 acquisition and financing transactions.”

Prior to joining XL Fleet, Berklas was a founder of Augmented Industry Services LLC, a Farmington, Conn.-based boutique investment bank focused on representing smaller domestic manufacturers.

He formed Augmented late last year after leaving Westfall-Technik Inc. Berklas had spent three years as general counsel and chief growth officer for the medical device and plastic packaging manufacturer.

Berklas started at Westfall-Technik after spending less than a year as interim general counsel at Support.com Inc., which he joined upon leaving the general counsel role at Bristol, Conn.-based Barnes Group. Barnes hired Berklas in 2015 from Herbalife, a multi-level marketing company where he spent nearly seven years as compliance chief, associate general counsel, and associate corporate secretary.

Herbalife brought on Berklas in 2008 after he worked for three years as legal chief at Marietta Corp., a hospitality products manufacturer. Berklas spent the previous decade as an associate in the corporate practices of Vinson & Elkins, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Irell & Manella.

Three other law firms took the lead advising on XL Fleet’s recent merger with Pivotal. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo represented XL Fleet on the deal, which closed last month, while Morrison & Foerster and New York’s Graubard Miller took the lead on the legal side for Pivotal.

Ledecky, who served as Pivotal’s CEO, is the uncle of former U.S. Olympic swimming gold medalist Katie Ledecky. Her father, David, is a former litigator at Kirkland & Ellis.

XL Fleet, whose technology allows automakers like Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. to reduce the fuel consumption of their vehicles, reaped $350 million in cash proceeds from the transaction with Pivotal.

XL Fleet’s recruitment of Berklas is the latest in a series of in-house legal additions by companies in the emerging vehicle space.

Bloomberg Law reported in November on startup electric truck maker Hyliion Holdings Corp. hiring a general counsel, having previously noted new legal chiefs at Arcimoto Inc., GM-backed Cruise LLC, TuSimple Inc., and industry leader Tesla Inc.