Jeffrey R. Patt

Jeffrey Patt is Co-Chair of the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice. His practice has included representing clients in a wide range of public and private securities, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters. Mr. Patt’s merger and acquisition practice has spanned a variety of public and private transactions. He has represented financial and strategic buyers in transactions that have involved varying forms of consideration and tax structure, and has served as special committee counsel in connection with a number of going private transactions. Mr. Patt also has represented management teams and executives in negotiating cash and equity-based compensation arrangements under a variety of circumstances, including in connection with leveraged buyout transactions, spin-offs and bankruptcy sales.

Mr. Patt’s securities law experience has included representing issuers and underwriters in public offerings of debt and equity securities. He also has counseled public companies in connection with their periodic reporting as well as corporate governance matters. Mr. Patt has represented institutional, venture capital and strategic investors in connection with their investments in public and private issuers. This work has ranged from early-stage venture capital transactions to mezzanine financings with equity features to private investments in public entities.

Mr. Patt has taught a mergers and acquisitions class as part of the LL.M. program in International and Comparative Law offered by Chicago-Kent College of Law. He has spoken at a number of client and industry conferences on topics ranging from incenting and retaining key employees to legal aspects of an initial public offering and structuring considerations in mergers and acquisitions transactions. Mr. Patt co-authored Stockholders’ Agreements Line by Line: A Detailed Look at Stockholders’ Agreements and How to Change Them to Meet Your Clients’ Needs (Thomson Reuters/Aspatore Books, October 2011). He also has contributed to a number of firm Client Advisories on public securities and merger and acquisition topics.

Mr. Patt received his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Illinois in 1984 and his Juris Doctor degree with high honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1987. His academic honors in law school included Order of the Coif. He also was the lead editor of the IIT/Chicago-Kent Law Review.