Kenneth A. Michaels, Jr.
Biography
News & Insights
Representative Matters
-
Ken’s commercial transactions have run a broad range and have included the following representative transactions:
- Counseled several clients through the creation of corporations or limited liability companies wherein special licenses or authorizations are required from state of Illinois such as medical and dental practices, structural engineers, insurers, law firms, and mortgage brokers.
- Counseled several clients through creation of small business corporations, limited liability companies, and limited partnerships for a wide variety of businesses and for not-for-profit organizations.
- Counseled the creation or amendment to organizational documents for several closely-held corporations with multiple levels of stock ownership and provided for restrictions on transfers of stock and liability protections related to fiduciary duties and exculpatory provisions.
- Counseled the creation of an Illinois bar association and several other not-for-profit organizations.
- Developed a large tract of land in a Chicago suburb involving dozens of buildings, several condominium and homeowner associations, and sales to hundreds of purchasers, negotiating several municipal development agreements and the issuance of municipal general obligation bonds.
- Managed and conducted the sale of a famous Chicagoland hotel, the Purple Hotel, through a bankruptcy proceeding.
- Negotiated and conducted the acquisition of a chain of ice cream shops through a bankruptcy proceeding.
- Facilitated and conducted the acquisition of assets of a couple companies and then the sale of the new company to a private equity firm.
- Negotiated, documented, and supervised the installation of fire prevention equipment and sprinklers in a large downtown Chicago hotel while it was in a chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- Developed one of the first hotel-investment condominium projects in Illinois.
- Represented a Fortune-100 company in negotiating lease terms and conditions with the US Social Security Administration and then selling the property.
- Represented a not-for-profit corporation in purchasing from the US Navy a large tract of land at Fort Sheridan, Illinois.
-
Ken’s litigation experience has included numerous cases involving highly contentious situations with multiple and complex issues, such as:
- Won dismissal of a state Department of Insurance claim against a company based upon a constitutional argument.
- Prevailed in an appeal in the Seventh Circuit on a question raised by a bankruptcy trustee challenging post-judgment practices in collecting on judgments in Illinois courts.
- Won a settlement for a client based upon a cutting-edge argument related to conversion of confidential information for economic advantage.
- Obtained dismissal of a trade secrets case by a former employer of against the employee’s current employer.
- Won at trial on a section 727 discharge case against a professional who filed bankruptcy as a result of a bad real estate investment.
- Obtained affordable resolution for subcontractor on several breach of contract claims arising from concrete work on various public projects.
- ​Represented hundreds of cases involving resolution of claims by judgment or settlement for money owed by one party to another.