Erik L. Kantz

Partner

Erik Kantz is a partner in the Firm’s Chicago office, where he is Vice-Chair of the Corporate Transactions and Counseling practice.  Mr. Kantz has practiced in both the Business and Litigation groups of the Firm, and uses his unique perspective of both the boardroom and the courtroom to deliver practical solutions to complex legal and business issues.  He has adopted a business approach to the practice of law, helping clients address threats and exploit opportunities by designing and implementing strategies and organizational structures that promote growth, flexibility and creativity.  As a result, Mr. Kantz serves as an ongoing resource and, in many cases, as part-time general counsel to his clients.

Mr. Kantz primarily represents entrepreneurs, privately-held companies, lenders and private investors across several industries, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, food and beverage, healthcare, financial and professional services, retail, franchising, construction and information technology and communications.  He counsels these clients on a broad range of issues, including business organizations and joint ventures, financing and investment, mergers and acquisitions, banking, insurance, contract matters, regulatory compliance and corporate governance and executive management (with an emphasis on employee retention and risk management through best practices).  Mr. Kantz has significant experience representing buyers and sellers, as well as minority owners, management, lenders, intermediaries and other constituents, in the merger and acquisition process, and in organizing and structuring companies and ventures at all stages of investment and development.  He also has substantial experience representing individuals (primarily physicians and other professionals) and non-profit associations with their business and legal needs.

Mr. Kantz  devotes a significant portion of his practice to owners and management involved in shareholder and corporate governance disputes.  He works closely with the Firm’s litigators and professional advisors to create and implement strategies tailored the client’s specific needs relative to the other owners, executives and constituents of the company in order to minimize (and in many cases avoid) the extraordinary economic and emotional costs of protracted litigation.

Before joining Arnstein & Lehr, Erik was a founding partner of CSC Communications, a sports publishing and consulting venture, where he served as Director of Marketing and Operations for College Sports Chicago, a newsprint magazine the company launched in 1995.

Professional Activities and Achievements

Mr. Kantz is an active member of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association (including its Committees on Middle Market and Small Business and Mergers and Acquisitions) and Chicago Bar Association (Committee on Corporation and Business Law).  He also is a long-standing member of the Illinois Bar Association and American Marketing Association. Mr. Kantz is a former Trustee and Board Secretary of the Blue Island Public Library, and has served on several boards of private non-profit organizations.  During law school, Mr. Kantz was inducted as a member of the Moot Court Society and represented DePaul at the Saul Lefkowitz National Moot Court Competition, an annual competition focusing upon emerging areas of Trademark and Unfair Competition law. He also interned with the Cook County States Attorney’s Office, where he had the opportunity to try felony criminal cases as a Rule-711 practitioner.

Recent Publications and Speaking Engagements

Mr. Kantz most recently presented “From Private Ownership to Private Equity Ownership: Practical Tips for Identifying and Documenting Transition Issues When Selling to Private Equity” to members of the Chicago Bar Association Committee on Corporation and Business Law.  He also co-chaired and delivered a presentation on behalf of the Committee on Middle-Market and Small Business at the annual meeting of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association in Vancouver, British Colombia titled “Start Smart: What Client’s Need to Know (and How to Tell Them) About Entity Selection, Owner’s Agreement and Funding” in March 2009, and spoke at the ABA’s annual meeting in Chicago and follow-on national webcast targeted at young lawyers titled “The Anatomy of Business Law: Tips and Terms for Corporate Drafting.”  Mr. Kantz  co-authored Health Care: Valuing a Professional Practice and the Importance of Buy-Sell Agreements for publication by the International Lawyers Network, and currently is serving on a task force drafting a model shareholder agreement for the ABA Business Law Section’s Corporate Practice Committee.  During law school, Mr. Kantz was a staff writer for the DePaul Journal of Art and Entertainment Law.

Education

DePaul University College of Law (J.D., 2000)
Illinois Wesleyan University (B.A., 1994, Business Administration and English)

Bar Admissions

State of Illinois; U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (former Trial Bar member); District of Columbia