Howard S. Lanznar

Howard S. Lanznar is a partner in the firm's Corporate Practice.

In his over twenty years of practice, Mr. Lanznar has focused on helping clients plan and execute sophisticated, complex and transformative transactions—from obtaining critical growth capital and closing strategic acquisitions, to going public and ultimate liquidity events. His clients include publicly held corporations, institutional investment funds, family businesses and entrepreneurial growth companies operating across a wide variety of industries.

Mr. Lanznar represents both purchasers and sellers in all types of mergers and acquisitions—public and private, hostile and friendly, stock sales, asset sales and mergers, including many cross-border transactions, both in-bound and out-bound. He has worked with clients to form joint ventures and similar strategic alliances. Mr. Lanznar frequently represents companies, both publicly and privately held, and their shareholders in “auction” sales processes managed by investment banking firms.

His practice concentrates on complicated, multifaceted transactions which require coordination of multiple legal disciplines: leveraged buyouts, entailing multiple levels of financing as well as M&A skills; public tender offers and mergers, requiring securities law and fiduciary law expertise; acquisitions of companies operating in regulated industries; and acquisitions or sales of businesses in financial distress or bankruptcy. In these situations, Mr. Lanznar leads teams of Katten specialists to provide coordinated, efficient and responsive service.

Mr. Lanznar also counsels corporations and their directors, officers and owners on a wide variety of business and legal issues, including corporate governance, fiduciary duties, regulatory compliance, employment and compensation matters, and strategic and business planning.

Mr. Lanznar also brings his experience in the business world to his practice. For three years, he served as general counsel of Fruit of the Loom, Inc., a Fortune 200, NYSE-listed international apparel company. Prior to beginning his legal career, he worked in marketing management for the Procter & Gamble Company.

Mr. Lanznar graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a member of The University of Chicago Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Mr. Lanznar is listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2008–2011), The Best Lawyers in America (2010–2012) and Illinois Super Lawyers (2012).