“Lawyers can improve clients’ lives in very distinct and personal ways. My primary focus in every case is using the unique power of the law to help clients accomplish meaningful and significant business and personal goals.”
Jack is an experienced business lawyer and litigator. His diverse areas of practice include, but are not limited to, business transactions and contracts, commercial litigation, banking and finance, SBA and agricultural lending, corporate restructuring, commercial real estate and leasing, mining and resource management, Jones Act and maritime commerce, debtor/creditor transactions, loan workout, judgment collections, replevin actions, garnishments, receiverships, and bankruptcy proceedings. Jack has been licensed to practice in state and federal courts in Minnesota and California since 1999, and has handled legal matters in several states throughout the United States, as well as Canada, Europe and Asia.
Jack’s practice has involved many different industries, including, but not limited to: banking/lending, factoring, equipment lease financing, commercial real estate, construction, excavation and earthmoving, mining and mineral prospecting, offshore drilling/dredging and resource exploration, admiralty and maritime law, shipping, automotive, trucking, commercial transportation, manufacturing, e-commerce, cybersecurity, federal firearms licensing and dealing, ammunition manufacturing, permit to carry issues, import/export, and international transactions. In a prior life, Jack was a stock options and commodities trader for several years.
As a small business owner, Jack understands first-hand the myriad challenges faced by businesses and their owners, whether it be securing investment capital and financing, preparing business plans and private placement memoranda, credit repair and development, business entity formation and structuring, partner buy-ins/buy-outs, business management and corporate operations, partnership disputes, regulatory compliance, employee and human resources issues, bookkeeping, payroll, taxes, commercial insurance, liability and risk mitigation, advertising and marketing, e-commerce, website development and online presence, cybersecurity, and many other things. As a business and finance lawyer, Jack has an insider’s understanding of how the law and legal system may be used to reduce risk exposure and gain significant and valuable competitive advantages. Jack brings this experience and knowledge, along with his 20-plus years of legal practice, to every client matter he is involved with.
Following are examples of some of the work Jack has done for clients:
Startup and New Business Representation
- Represented broad array of individuals and businesses in connection with formation of new business entities, corporate reorganization and restructuring, commercial real estate acquisition and leasing, drafted buy-sell agreements, member control agreements, shareholder agreements, bylaws, written corporate resolutions and board actions.
- Represented companies seeking investor funding and financing, and assisted with introductions to financial institutions and private equity groups.
- Preparation of detailed business plans and PPMs (Private Placement Memoranda), and assisted with due diligence process.
- Drafted regulatory compliance reports in complex, multi-agency industries such as mining leases and permitting, offshore and subsea mining operations, maritime law and Jones Act, international shipping and marine commerce, ATF Federal Firearms Licensure procedures, U.S. State Department import/export procedures, United States and European Union cybersecurity protocols.
Established Business Representation
- Represented many businesses as outside general counsel.
- Analyzed, drafted, and negotiated hundreds of various types of contracts and agreements.
- Analyzed and advised clients on franchise agreements and business purchases.
- Represented clients through mergers and acquisitions.
- Represented clients in connection with asset acquisitions, commercial equipment leases and lease financing, company sales, company valuations, and dissolutions.
- Performed due diligence audits to identify regulatory vulnerabilities and other legal risk areas in preparation for formal audits.
- Prepared and represented clients in joint venture agreements, stock subscription agreements, non-compete agreements, independent contractor agreements.
- Conducted internal investigation matters concerning claims by employees, and engaged in litigation defense in employee actions against the company.
- Experience negotiating banker and financing engagement letters, letters of intent, myriad forms of loan documents, mortgages, commercial security agreements, corporate and individual guaranty agreements, escrow agreements, asset purchase agreements, loan/lender participation agreements.
- Served as legal counsel for actions involving out-of-state litigants.
- Experience with contract management and international transactions.
- Assisted in company audit and tax filing activities for clients.
- Participated in pre-sale planning and preparation activities.
- Recommended improvements to company operating policies and procedures.
Debt Workout, Receivership and Bankruptcy Representation
- Assisted lenders and borrowers with problem loan workouts and loan restructuring.
- Experience with loan defaults and collateral recovery, replevins, prejudgment attachments, foreclosures, receiverships, guaranty defaults, agricultural collateral issues.
- Handled all aspects of judgment collections and enforcements, including asset seizures, executions on judgment liens and sheriff’s levies, bank account and wage garnishments, charging orders, intellectual property seizures, unwinding complex asset transfers, offshore asset claw-backs, fraudulent transfers, fraudulent successor liability.
- Represented creditors in asserting and protecting claims in Chapters 7, 11, 12 and 13 bankruptcies.
- Assisted corporate debtors in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizations; assisted company and individual debtors in Chapter 7 dissolution bankruptcy proceedings.
- Handled all aspects of corporate, agricultural, and individual bankruptcy proceedings, including lift stay motions, creditor cram-downs, claim objections, adversary proceedings, depositions, reorganization plan compliance.
- Experience with farmer-lender mediations and farmland right of first refusal proceedings.
- Represented borrowers and lenders in Lender Liability Actions.
- Worked on temporary restraining orders, injunctions and other emergency proceedings.
Business and Commercial Litigation Representation
- Decades of experience handling all aspects of litigation, including drafting pleadings and motions, written discovery, conducting witness depositions, conducting trials, arguing cases before the court of appeals and supreme court.
- Assisted clients on cases in over a dozen states and overseas, including class-action lawsuits.
- Represented clients in hundreds of breach of contract disputes.
- Extensive knowledge of Uniform Commercial Code, and assisted in numerous lawsuits involving UCC interpretation and application.
- Represented companies and individuals in consumer protection claims, including Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), unfair and deceptive trade practices disputes, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims, product liability lawsuits, premises liability claims, regulatory violation actions.
- Assisted companies and employees with employment-related disputes, including non-disclosure and non-compete agreements, wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination, hostile work environment claims, and employment policy compliance disputes.
- Handled partnership disputes, shareholder rights litigation, and shareholder derivative actions.
Education
- Loyola University Law School, Los Angeles, California, Juris Doctor, (J.D.)
- University of California, San Diego, Bachelor of Arts, (B.A.)
Professional and Civic Activities
- Minnesota State Bar Association
- Hennepin County Bar Association
- California State Bar Association
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
- Member of the Minnesota Banker’s Association
- Member of the American Association of Private Lenders
- Member of the Turnaround Management Association
- Member of the Commercial Finance Association
Admissions
- Minnesota State Bar
- United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
- California State Bar
- United States District Court for the Northern District of California (San Francisco)
- United States District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles)
- United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (pro hac vice)
- North Dakota State Bar (pro hac vice)
Publications
- Author: “New Study Indicates Dodd-Frank Disproportionately Hurt Community Banks to the Benefit of Wall Street”
- Author: “Cybersecurity 101”
- Co-author: “Agricultural Loan Workout Issues”
- Co-author: “Dealing With Troubled Agricultural Loans Prior to Farmer-Lender Mediation”
- Author: “Financing and Judgment Collection Issues Surrounding High Tech Companies”
- Co-author: “Proactive Loan Workout Options Prior to Litigation”
- Author: “Lender Liability Considerations”
- Author: “Litigating Fraudulent Transfer Cases”
- Author: “Business Law 101 for Banks: Non-Compete Agreements”
- Author: “What is a Single-Purpose Entity and Why is it Important in Commercial Real Estate Financing Transactions?”
- Author: “Solving the Problem of Serving a Complaint on the Disappearing Defendant”
- Author: “Litigating Non-Compete Agreements”
- Co-author: “Marital Bliss Sacrificed to Defraud Bank – the Lengths Some Will Go to Avoid Paying Debts”
- Author: “Homestead Exemption May Not Protect Fraudulent Debtors”
- Author: “The Double-Edged Sword of Tokenization and EMV Smartcard Adoption to the Banking Community”
- Co-author: “Successfully Collecting Money from an Off-Shore Bank Account, and Preserving Offshore Assets”
- Author: “Maritime Law 101: Offshore Gold Mining in Nome, Alaska”
Presentations
- Presenter: “Business and Tax Benefits of Commercial Cost Segregation Policies”
- Presenter: “How to Perfect Unusual and Unique Collateral”
- Presenter: “Board of Directors of Non-Profit Entities’ Exposure to Possible Legal Liability”
- Presenter: “Litigating Fraudulent Transfer Cases”
- Presenter: “Important Topics in Cybersecurity Law”
- Co-presenter: “Effectively Dealing with Agricultural Workout Issues in a Troubled Financial Environment”
- Co-presenter: “Proactively Dealing with Troubled Agricultural Loans in a Pre-Mediation Context”
- Co-presenter: “Financing Issues Surrounding High Tech Companies”
- Co-presenter: “Proactively Handling Loan Workout Issues in a Pre-Litigation Context”