THE PRACTICE

For the first 26 years of his practice, Mike worked at mid-sized law firms including 12 years at the 50+ attorney Pedersen & Houpt firm and 12 years at the 100+ attorney Ungaretti & Harris firm (now Nixon Peabody), both of which are located in Chicago. Mike now has more than 30 years of experience acting as general counsel and transaction counsel to clients ranging from middle-market and large companies to entrepreneurs, start-ups, and high-growth businesses in diverse fields including manufacturing and distribution, advertising and marketing, enterprise software distribution, logistics, mobile computing technology, and gaming. Mike’s experience, coupled with his training as a certified public accountant, make him uniquely qualified to partner with business leaders and to provide balanced, practical strategic advice. Mike’s clients value his ability to lead a team to develop pragmatic, creative solutions to complex legal problems. As part of his practice, Mike regularly:

Provides legal counsel regarding the formation, structure and capitalization of new business ventures.
Acts as lead counsel representing buyers and sellers in connection with structuring, negotiating, financing and documenting business mergers, acquisitions, and dispositions as well as real property acquisitions and dispositions.
Provides corporate counsel in a variety of contract matters including real property leases, executive employment agreements, executive separation agreements, distribution agreements, vendor agreements, and licensing agreements.
Acts as lead legal counsel in connection with restructurings of financially troubled companies.
Advises boards of directors with respect to corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters.
Provides counsel to lenders and borrowers in connection with structuring, negotiating and documenting significant secured business loans for acquisition and working capital purposes.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Represented the acquirer in connection with the capitalization and simultaneous acquisition of three litigation support and legal staffing businesses, and the $45 million debt facility that was obtained in connection with the acquisitions.
Represented a lending group in connection with its restructuring of a publicly-traded secured mobility computing company, involving the partial strict foreclosure on all of the assets of the company and the creation of a new operating company.
Represented a company in connection with its restructuring of existing debt involving the conversion of outstanding debt to equity and subordinated debt, substantial dilution of existing equity holders, acquisition of new equity capital, and acquisition of a new senior debt facility.
Represented the acquirer in connection with the $9.5 million acquisition of three industrial properties located in two different states and the debt facility that was obtained to finance the acquisitions.
Represented the sellers of all of the equity of a perioperative and anesthesia consulting services firm to a large, publicly-traded healthcare services company.
Represented the seller in connection with the sale of a financially-troubled national moving and storage company, including negotiations with the senior lender who was not being paid-off in full, negotiations with the subordinated debt holder, and preparation of a shareholder proxy statement.
Represented the acquirer in connection with the purchase of two juice manufacturing and bottling companies and an acquisition and working capital line of credit.
Represented a digital marketing company in connection with an add-on acquisition, restructuring of its mezzanine debt, acquisition of a secured senior debt facility and recapitalization.
Represented the acquirer in connection with the purchase of an aluminum casting company and related acquisition and working capital secured debt facility.
Represented a group that acquired a controlling interest in a small publicly-traded developer of mobility computing appliance solutions through an investment in preferred stock and convertible notes.
Represented a private equity-backed enterprise software distributor in connection with three separate add-on acquisitions and the sale of an operating division.
Represented the lead lender in connection with a $70 million syndicated secured credit facility to a national provider of correctional healthcare solutions.
Represented the lender in connection with a $35 million secured credit facility to a supplier of infusion services.
Represented a Canadian lender in connection with a $30 million credit facility to a Canadian wire manufacturer with U.S. operating subsidiaries.

Law Offices of Michael W. Black LLC

THE PRACTICE

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

EDUCATION