Chicago Office
300 N. LaSalle Street Suite 4000
Chicago,
Illinois
60654
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Professional Experience
John Vail practices in the Corporate Services and Tax Exempt Groups, with an emphasis on institutional investor legal matters, corporate governance and nonprofit organizations. He is leader of the Firm’s Investor Services Team, which has extensive experience in the representation of all types of investors, both taxable and tax-exempt. His clients include institutional investors of various types, including universities, public charities, pensions funds, hospital systems and private foundations. John counsels them in their investment activities with respect to alternative investments (private equity, leveraged buyouts, venture capital, mezzanine debt, alternative marketable strategies and hedge funds). He has represented these clients with respect to their direct investments as well as in their secondary sales and purchases of investment fund interests.
John has also formed private investment funds for clients of the Firm who are looking to raise capital for blind pools or specific investment opportunities.
John also has extensive background in mergers and acquisitions and commercial contracts.
Mr. Vail’s recent experiences include:
- Representation of university, foundation and other institutional investors in over $1.5 billion of private equity, real estate and hedge fund investments.
- Secondary sale of an institutional investor’s private equity fund portfolio.
- Closing of a transaction in which a closely held, catalog sales company sold a division of its operations to a publicly held corporation.
- Representation of a public company in its acquisition of a private company engaged in a multistate plumbing/drain cleaning operation.
- Disposition of an energy management company in a transaction with multiple bidders.
- Representation of substantial investor in $556 million acquisition of real estate development subsidiary of publicly held company.
- Representation of sole purchaser of Rule 144A debt securities in a first-of-its-kind securitization by state economic development authority of its HUD portfolio.
- Representation of a buyer in the purchase of assets in a §363 bankruptcy transaction.
Education and Honors
- Loyola University, Chicago (J.D., 1980)
Alpha Sigma Nu. Lincoln Academy of Illinois Medal.
- Loyola University, Chicago (B.A., cum laude, 1977)
Bar Admissions
Illinois,
1980
Court Admissions
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 1980
Professional Recognition
Selected for inclusion in the 2007-2011 Illinois Super Lawyers® lists (Business/Corporate). Leading Lawyers Network member. Lincoln Academy of Illinois Medal (Recipient).
Professional and Civic Activities
Advisory Board to Loyola University’s Institute for Business & Professional Ethics (Member).
American Bar Association (Member, Business Law Section - Institutional Investor Committee).
Chicago Bar Association (Member).
Girls on the Run - Chicago (Board of Directors Member).
National Association of Corporate Directors (Member).
Selected Presentations/Publications
- Presenter, “Recent Changes in the Illinois General Not For Profit Corporation Act”, Trade and Professional Associations Committee of the Chicago Bar Association, October 13, 2009.
- Presenter, “Ethics 2010: Illinois’ New Approach to Ethics,” Chicago Bar Association, October 9, 2009.
- Panelist, Developments in Nonprofit Investment Management (including the Illinois Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act), DiMeo & Schneider Investor Conference, October 7, 2009.
- Author, “Negotiation Ethics,” Quarles & Brady Publication.
- Author, “Madoff Sentenced: An Aftermath of Old Lessons, New Laws,” Quarles & Brady Investor Services Team Client Update, August 2009.
- Presenter, “Legal Aspects of Alternative Investments,” Chicago Kent College of Law’s Nonprofit Symposium,
June 2008.
- Presenter, Governance of Not for Profits in 2004, Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation’s Speaker Series, 2004.
- Author, “Not-For-Profits Turn Their Attention to Corporate Governance,” Quarles & Brady Tax-Exempt Organizations Update, October 2003.
- Presenter, “The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002: Implications for Private Company Governance,” Chicago Bar Association Seminar entitled “How to Form an Illinois Business Entity,” September 11, 2003.
- Author, “Responding to the Crisis in Health Care: Do You Have A Corporate Trust Program?,” The Health Lawyer, Volume 15, Number 4, July 2003.
- Presenter, “Endowment & Foundation Board & Senior Staff Legal & Audit Fiduciary Responsibilities,” Frank Russell Company’s Endowment & Foundation Symposium, June 12, 2003.
- Presenter, “Developments in Not For Profit Governance,” Chicago Kent College of Law’s Annual Nonprofit Symposium, June 2003.
- “Corporate Directors Ask: ‘I Pledge Allegiance ... But To Whom?,’ Wilson & McIlvaine Corporate Comments newsletter, Fall 1996.
- Presenter, “Law and Ethics in Corporate America,” Business People of St. Michael’s, October 1996.
- Presenter, “The Americans With Disabilities Act,” Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Greater Chicago Conference, 1992.
- Presenter, “The ‘Black Hole’: Health Incentives Under the Americans With Disabilities Act,” Worksite Wellness Council of Greater Chicago Annual Conference, October 20, 1992.
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