Janet Love has practiced in the general corporate, securities, and mergers and acquisitions areas for more than 20 years. Her practice includes representing both public companies and private companies on a wide range of issues, including securities offerings, initial public offerings, securities regulatory matters, corporate communications and public disclosures, contracts, stock trading and reporting by public company officers and directors, corporate governance, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, and other corporate transactions. She has represented start-up companies in connection with capital raising efforts as well as a wide variety of contract negotiations and corporate structure issues.
Ms. Love’s clients over the years include public and private companies in a variety of industries, including insurance, banking, ethanol, manufacturing, distribution, mining, consulting and other service-based companies.
Finance & Securities
Ms. Love represents public and private companies as well as underwriters in public and private capital raising transactions. In addition, she handles the securities law aspects of various types of corporate transactions as well as ongoing SEC securities reporting and other disclosure requirements, and stock trading and reporting by officers and directors.
Her recent projects include 144A offerings and public offerings of debt and equity securities, tender offers by issuers of their own securities, as well as tender offers made by acquiring companies to acquire control of other companies. She represents a Canadian public company in connection with the U.S. securities law aspects of public and private offerings in Canada and the U.S. of common shares, senior debt and trust preferred securities, and has represented a community bank in connection with an initial public offering of securities in connection with its conversion to stock ownership.
Ms. Love has also represented start-up ethanol plants in connection with their private capital raising transactions as well as insurance company clients in connection with the securities law aspects of private placements of offshore insurance companies, including “rent-a-captives.” She has also advised a Canadian issuer with respect to the U.S. securities law aspects of a tender offer made to Canadian and U.S. shareholders, and handled various private placements in a variety of industries.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Ms. Love represents both public and private companies in connection with mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other corporate transactions, including purchases and sales of assets and restructurings. Her experience includes the purchase and sale of public and private companies and divisions thereof, including acquisitions through a tender offer/merger structure. She also advises boards of directors and special committees in connection with fiduciary duty and corporate governance issues related to acquisitions and other corporate transactions.
Her recent projects include representing the acquiror of a public company in a $280 million tender offer/merger and representing a public target company acquired in a $50 million merger with a public company acquiror.
Corporate Governance
Ms. Love has advised boards of directors and board committees with respect to corporate governance matters, including questions raised by independence rules and other rules resulting from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, board and committee procedures, board committee charters and structure, preparation and maintenance of corporate records and minutes. She has also advised directors with respect to fiduciary duty issues in connection with a wide variety of transactions, including the sale of their company.
Education
- J.D., Northwestern University School of Law, 1981
National Moot Court Team - B.S., with honors, Western Illinois University, 1975
Bar Admissions
Professional History
Partner in the law firm of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP
Co-chair, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell Diversity Committee
Member, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell Hiring Committee
Lord Bissell & Brook, 1997-2007
Keck Mahin & Cate, 1981-1997
Professional Affiliations
- Member, Board of Directors of Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms
- Co-Chair, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP, Diversity Committee
- Member, Locke Lord, Bissell & Liddell LLP Recruiting Coordinating Committee
- American Bar Association, Business Law Section
- Chicago Bar Association