Private equity groups, corporate clients, founders, and entrepreneurs turn to Don for proactive and practical advice with respect to buying and selling their companies, corporate governance, and commercial contracting.

Overview
Representative Matters
Insights

Don assists clients with mergers, acquisitions, and sales of their companies, equity and debt financings, negotiation of commercial contracts, and public company reporting and compliance. He also advises boards of directors on corporate governance matters. Don works with clients across industries, with a concentration in financial services, including depository institutions, nondepository lenders, and other financial service providers.

Before beginning his legal career, Don worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in investment banking at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., and in the insurance brokerage industry.

  • Handled numerous mergers of publicly held bank holding companies.
  • Represented banks and bank holding companies in their offerings of subordinated debt.
  • Represented a publicly held state bank in its purchase of bank branches.
  • Handled the acquisition by a private equity firm of a payment processing and financial services company focused on electronic benefits transfers (EBT) and credit/debit processing for merchants.
  • Handled multiple acquisitions by a private equity firm of homeowners and personal automobile insurance companies and related business lines.
  • Handled multiple acquisitions and dispositions by a private equity firm of multistate consumer finance companies.
  • Handled acquisitions and dispositions of private equity sponsored portfolio companies in multiple industries, including manufacturing, retail, environmental services, food, entertainment, and personnel and staffing.
  • Handled the acquisitions by a privately held company of an approved FHA lender and Ginnie Mae multifamily issuer, a Freddie Mac seller/servicer and a commercial mortgage servicer, and the subsequent sale to a publicly held financial institution.
  • Represented a private equity sponsored payment services provider in connection with numerous business acquisitions and strategic transactions.
  • Handled the acquisition by a private equity group of an advance factoring business and the subsequent successful disposition of such business.
  • Handled the acquisition by a private equity group of an automobile dealer and a related buy here-pay here auto loan financing and servicing business.
  • Handled the strategic acquisition by a venture-backed provider of sports broadcast, data, and live event technology of a provider of digital sports content and broadcast enhancements.
  • Represented a manufacturer of high vacuum systems in connection with a corporate recapitalization and subsequent sale to a strategic acquirer.
  • Represented the founder of a technology enabled and data driven demand and lead generation business in the sale to a private equity sponsored strategic acquirer.
  • Represented boards of directors and board committees in the preparation and adoption of audit, nominating, and governance and compensation committee charters; codes of ethics; insider trading policies and corporate governance principles.
  • Counseled publicly held companies with respect to securities laws and disclosures.
  • Organized and counseled numerous charitable organizations, including organizations supporting education, youth athletics, energy conservation, and medical research.

Don assists clients with mergers, acquisitions, and sales of their companies, equity and debt financings, negotiation of commercial contracts, and public company reporting and compliance. He also advises boards of directors on corporate governance matters. Don works with clients across industries, with a concentration in financial services, including depository institutions, nondepository lenders, and other financial service providers.

Before beginning his legal career, Don worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in investment banking at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., and in the insurance brokerage industry.

  • Handled numerous mergers of publicly held bank holding companies.
  • Represented banks and bank holding companies in their offerings of subordinated debt.
  • Represented a publicly held state bank in its purchase of bank branches.
  • Handled the acquisition by a private equity firm of a payment processing and financial services company focused on electronic benefits transfers (EBT) and credit/debit processing for merchants.
  • Handled multiple acquisitions by a private equity firm of homeowners and personal automobile insurance companies and related business lines.
  • Handled multiple acquisitions and dispositions by a private equity firm of multistate consumer finance companies.
  • Handled acquisitions and dispositions of private equity sponsored portfolio companies in multiple industries, including manufacturing, retail, environmental services, food, entertainment, and personnel and staffing.
  • Handled the acquisitions by a privately held company of an approved FHA lender and Ginnie Mae multifamily issuer, a Freddie Mac seller/servicer and a commercial mortgage servicer, and the subsequent sale to a publicly held financial institution.
  • Represented a private equity sponsored payment services provider in connection with numerous business acquisitions and strategic transactions.
  • Handled the acquisition by a private equity group of an advance factoring business and the subsequent successful disposition of such business.
  • Handled the acquisition by a private equity group of an automobile dealer and a related buy here-pay here auto loan financing and servicing business.
  • Handled the strategic acquisition by a venture-backed provider of sports broadcast, data, and live event technology of a provider of digital sports content and broadcast enhancements.
  • Represented a manufacturer of high vacuum systems in connection with a corporate recapitalization and subsequent sale to a strategic acquirer.
  • Represented the founder of a technology enabled and data driven demand and lead generation business in the sale to a private equity sponsored strategic acquirer.
  • Represented boards of directors and board committees in the preparation and adoption of audit, nominating, and governance and compensation committee charters; codes of ethics; insider trading policies and corporate governance principles.
  • Counseled publicly held companies with respect to securities laws and disclosures.
  • Organized and counseled numerous charitable organizations, including organizations supporting education, youth athletics, energy conservation, and medical research.
  • Trustee and secretary, The Foundation for Excellence in Higher Education, Inc.
  • Trustee, The Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life at Princeton University, Inc.
  • Insurance brokerage: The NIA Group, L.L.C. and predecessor entities, 1994-99
  • Domestic macroeconomic research: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1993-94
  • Investment banking – Public Finance Department: Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc., 1992-93

Education

  • Rutgers Law School, J.D., 1998
  • Boston College, B.A., magna cum laude, 1991, economics and English 

Bar Admissions

  • New Jersey

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey