Mark A. Conley

Mark A. Conley has more than 30 years experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and entertainment and media transactions. Mr. Conley’s experience in M&A and related transactions includes public and private M&A, tender offers, leveraged buyouts, financial restructurings, joint ventures and corporate partnering arrangements, and venture capital and private equity investments, acquisitions and dispositions, including cross-border transactions involving the European Community, Asia and Mexico. Mr. Conley has substantial experience in advising boards of directors and investment committees of private equity funds on securities law compliance, disclosure and reporting obligations, and corporate governance matters, including business judgment rule, “entire fairness” doctrine, controlling stockholder principles and fiduciary duties.

In financial transactions, Mr. Conley has represented issuers and underwriters in public and private securities offerings of debt and equity securities, and hedge funds, private equity sponsors, financial institutions and corporate borrowers in a wide variety of other corporate finance transactions, including syndicated credit facilities, letters of credit, credit-enhancement transactions, hedging arrangements, mezzanine debt financings and intercreditor arrangements. Mr. Conley has also represented parties on all sides of transactions in project finance, aircraft finance and aircraft leasing transactions.

Mr. Conley has represented clients from a range of industries including entertainment and media, defense contracting, aerospace, agriculture, Internet, investment advising, garment manufacturing, electronics manufacturing, health care services, financial services and medical device manufacturing. He represents many of the firm's Internet, technology, entertainment and media clients on corporate structuring, M&A, financing, and the development, production and exploitation of entertainment content and other intellectual property.

Mr. Conley is a member of the firm’s Corporate and Entertainment and Media Practices. He is Head of the Los Angeles Corporate Practice, participates in the firm’s Securities, Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity Practices, and is co-editor of the Corporate and Securities section of the firm’s Corporate and Financial Weekly Digest. Mr. Conley also lectures on governance and the fiduciary duties of directors, members, managers and officers.

Mr. Conley was the architect of the concurrent merger and financial restructuring and initial public offering of Earle M. Jorgensen Company and lead counsel on the billion-dollar merger of the two leading companies in the metals distribution industry. Mr. Conley was also a member of the team that carried out due diligence for the acquirers in the NBC acquisition of Universal and the acquisition of MGM by Sony and a consortium of private equity firms.

Mr. Conley came to Katten from McDermott, Will & Emery in Los Angeles and before that was with the firm of Debevoise & Plimpton. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973 and his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1977.

Mr. Conley is admitted to practice in California and New York and is a member of the State Bar of California and the American and Los Angeles County bar associations. He also serves on the advisory committee of the University of Southern California Corporate Counsel Institute. In 2006, he was listed as a Southern California Super Lawyer for Business and Corporate in Los Angeles magazine and Southern California Super Lawyers magazine.