Jonathan Paul Friedland
Attorney and Counselor at Law - Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Helsinger LLP
I am a partner and executive committee member. I view my job very simply: to make money for clients whenever possible and to protect their interests at every turn. My transactional work includes serving as outside general counsel to closely-held businesses and their principals; representing private equity funds and others in their M&A activities; and structuring new businesses, business lines, joint ventures, and other significant commercial relationships. I regularly advise clients on a wide range of topics including fiduciary duties, corporate structuring issues (between shareholders, members, joint ventures, etc.), credit negotiations, general contract issues, succession planning, employee matters, and litigation. I have extensive experience in guiding companies and their constituents through a variety of challenging situations. represent companies in distress, their owners and boards of directors, official and ad hoc creditor committees, buyers, their assignees, receivers, trustees, and other stakeholders in bankruptcy cases, assignments for the benefit of creditors, receiverships, and out-of-court workouts. While I am not a trial attorney, my clients trust me in directing my litigation partners on such matters.
After law school, I clerked for a federal judge before entering private practice. I was an Adjunct Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business for several years and was the first Clayton Center for Entrepreneurial Law Visiting Professor of Business Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law.
I have been profiled, interviewed, and/or quoted in numerous publications, and am the lead author and editor of several significant treatises, several chapters in other treatises, and hundreds of articles on law and business. I am also the founder of an online provider of continuing education, information, and business intelligence for business owners, investors, and their trusted advisors.
- University of Pennsylvania Law School
- J.D. (1994)
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- State University of New York - Albany
- B.S. (1991)
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- Honors: Magna Cum Laude
- Activities: Tau Epsilon Pi (social fraternity), member Pi Sigma Epsilon (business fraternity), member and President Informal Advisor to High School Student Government
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- Partner
- Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Helsinger LLP
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- Partner
- Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC
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- Adjunct Professor of Strategic Management
- University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
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- Co-taught (with James H.M. Sprayregen) course titled “Failure – Grave to Cradle Corporate Restructuring.”
- Partner
- Kirkland & Ellis LLP
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- Visiting Professor
- University of Tennessee College of Law
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- Inaugural “Clayton Center for Entrepreneurial Law Visiting Professor”. Taught courses on corporate law (covering, among other topics, entity formation, fiduciary duties, securities regulation, and mergers and acquisitions) and chapter 11 restructurings.
- Associate
- Schiff Hardin LLP
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- United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois
- Law Clerk
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- Chapter 11-101: The Book
- American Bankruptcy Institute
- Commercial Bankruptcy Litigation
- Thomson/West
- Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice
- Thomson/West
- Strategic Alternatives For and Against Distressed Businesses
- Thomson/West
- “Financing a Chapter 11 Case: Debtor in Possession Financing,” REORGANIZING FAILING BUSINESSES (Third Edition)
- American Bar Association
- The Effective Director, Breakfast Meeting, Chicago, Illinois
- Private Director Association
- Litigation Funding in the Bankruptcy Space, 12th Annual Credit & Bankruptcy Symposium, Uncasville, CT
- American Bankruptcy Institute
- NYIC/IFA Northeast Joint Shark Tank Event
- New York Institute of Credit & International Factoring Association
- What Services Do Restructuring Attorneys and Bankers Need from CPAs and Consultants?, Allinial Global Advisory Services Forum
- Financial Advisor’s Toolbox, 29th Annual Bankruptcy & Restructuring Conference
- Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (AIRA)
- Illinois Super Lawyer
- Law & Politics Magazine
- This distinction is held by five percent of Illinois attorneys; attorneys who earned this distinction in 2004 had an average of 27 years of experience and were nominated by other attorneys who were asked to “name the best lawyers they had personally observed in action.
- AV Preeminent
- Martindale-Hubbell
- This is the highest possible rating, awarded to less than 14% of all U.S. attorneys.
- Leading Lawyer
- Illinois Leading Lawyer Network
- Bankruptcy & Workout Law: Commercial; Creditor’s Rights/Commercial Collections Law, Illinois Leading Lawyer Network
- LawDragon 500 Finalist
- LawDragon
- Superb
- AVVO
- (10 out of 10)
- United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- Current
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- District of Arizona
- Current
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- Northern District of Illinois
- Current
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- Northern District of Indiana
- Current
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- District of New Jersey
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- American Bankruptcy Institute
- Director
- Current
- Activities: Served as co-executive editor of its flagship publication, the ABI JOURNAL
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- Association for Corporate Growth and Turnaround Management Association
- Member
- Current
- Activities: Former education co-chair of the Chicago/Midwest chapter
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- National Association of Federal Equity Receivers
- Associate Member
- Current
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- Horace Rumpole Inn of Court
- Retired Member
- Current
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- Illinois State Bar
- Member
- - Current
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- New York State Bar # 2730612
- Member
- - Current
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- Arizona State Bar
- Member
- - Current
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- New Jersey State Bar
- Member
- - Current
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- Arizona
- State Bar of Arizona
- ID Number: 16500
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- Illinois
- Supreme Court of Illinois
- ID Number: 6257902
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- New Jersey
- New Jersey Courts
- ID Number: 015631994
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- New York
- New York State Office of Court Administration
- ID Number: 2730612
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- Business Law
- Business Contracts, Business Dissolution, Business Finance, Business Formation, Business Litigation, Franchising, Mergers & Acquisitions, Partnership & Shareholder Disputes
- Bankruptcy
- Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Debt Relief
- Corporate Restructuring, Insolvency & Special Situations
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- General Corporate Law
- Commercial Litigation Finance
- Portfolio Company Representation