"I love jazz and, like the jazz greats, an entrepreneur has to be ready to improvise. It’s a privilege to help an entrepreneur create a great business that looks little like the business the entrepreneur first thought he or she was creating."
Jim is a partner in HMB’s Business and Finance Group. He focuses his practice on start-up and early stage financings, mergers and acquisitions, contract negotiation and providing counsel to company executives and their boards of directors.
Jim represents businesses from their beginnings through initial financing, growth initiatives, subsequent financing and ultimate liquidity. While a large portion of Jim’s practice is centered in the technology space, Jim also represents entrepreneurs who seek to purchase, operate and grow established businesses in areas such as marketing, packaging, manufacturing and distribution.
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Jim also provides general counsel services related to business transition, employment issues, partnership and LLC agreements and securities matters. Jim’s general counsel clients include professional service firms, health care providers and payors, retailers and outsourced business service providers.
A presence in Chicago’s start-up community, Jim leads HMB’s relationship with and sponsorship of Hyde Park Angels, the most active angel investment organization in the Midwest. He serves as a mentor at the Food Foundry, a food start-up accelerator housed at Chicago’s Tech & Entrepreneurship Center, has advised at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and has served as a mentor at the business accelerator Techstars Chicago.
A Business-Savvy Approach
Clients rely on Jim for more than legal advice; they appreciate his respect for the human elements of both their transaction and their business. With decades of experience, Jim’s approach is informed by listening first and simplifying the difficult. Jim’s focus is helping his clients get to “yes,” whether that’s a closed financing, a signed contract or a successful business sale.
Education
- University of California at Los Angeles, J.D.
- Northwestern University, B.A.
Honors
- Leading Lawyers, 2022-2023
- Illinois Super Lawyers, 2010-2012, 2014-2017
- AV Rated
- Chicago’s Best Startup Lawyers, Red Rocket, 2012
Professional Memberships
- Chicago Bar Associations
- Business Law Committee, former Chair
- Subcommittee on Non-Corporate Business Entities for six years, former Chair
- Subcommittee on Private Equity for three years, former Co-Chair
- Executive Committee of the Committee on Partnerships and Unincorporated Business Organizations of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section, former Program Chair
- Illinois Secretary of State’s Corporation Law Advisory Committee, former member
News
- Congratulations to HMB Attorneys Named to 2023 Leading LawyersFebruary 21, 2023
Congratulations to Jeralyn H. Baran, Keith H. Berk, Aaron L.Hammer, Jeffrey H. Hechtman, James L. Jerue and Jeffrey A. Zaluda for being named 2023 Leading Lawyers! Only lawyers who are most often recommended by their peers and later approved by the Leading Lawyers Advisory Board are selected.
- Client Success: Chowly Announces Acquisition of Digital Ordering Company KoalaFebruary 7, 2023
HMB would like to congratulate Sterling Douglass and the entire Chowly team on its acquisition of Koala, a guest experience platform that empowers restaurant brands to elevate their digital ordering experience across web, app and kiosk.
- Client Success: Science on Call Raises $1.6MM in Pre-Seed FundingFebruary 23, 2022
HMB congratulates Science on Call on the closing of its $1.6 million in pre-seed funding. The Chicago startup will use the new funding to keep restaurants up and running by helping with outages, glitches and other tech challenges.
- Client Success: Deck Commerce Closes $7.8MM in Series A Funding Led by Plymouth GrowthOctober 14, 2021
HMB would like to congratulate Deck Commerce on the closing of their Series A funding led by Plymouth Growth.
- Client Success: HAAS Alert Raises $5M to Take Cellular V2X Network NationwideSeptember 7, 2021
HMB would like to congratulate HAAS Alert on the closing of their equity financing round. The $5M in investment capital will support the nationwide expansion of Safety Cloud, the leading automotive digital alerting system that’s standard on emergency and roadway fleet vehicles. HAAS Alert’s platform enables real-time safety alerts between vehicles and connected infrastructure (V2X) to reduce the risk of…
