The Wilmington office of K&L Gates was established to provide clients with deep experience and unmatched presence in Delaware, with a focus in the areas of Delaware business entities, namely, limited liability companies, general and limited partnerships, statutory trusts, and corporations, and their utilization in a wide range of domestic and cross-border corporate and commercial transactions. Delaware is known for its role as the U.S. center for formation of business enterprises, and the team of lawyers provides important expertise for the firm’s global corporate practice.
Our work encompasses a broad range of corporate and commercial transactions, including financings, securitizations, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, venture capital, private equity, and hedge funds, real estate investment trusts, master limited partnerships, preferred securities transactions, insurance premium financing transactions, life settlement transactions, special purpose/bankruptcy remote structures, and debt refinancings.
With respect to mergers and acquisitions, we regularly advise corporations on hostile takeovers, proxy contests, asset sales and other divestitures and business combinations, as well as on traditional private and public company mergers and acquisitions.
In addition, we have extensive experience in advising on issues, both in the transactional and litigation context, relating to the organization, operation, management, governance, dissolution, winding up, and restructuring of alternative entities, corporations, and captive insurance companies, including advising private and public corporation and alternative entities on fiduciary and statutory obligations relating to directors, officers, general partners, managers, trustees, special committees and significant equity holders.
We also regularly advise financial institutions and service providers in the many roles in which they serve, such as trustee, indenture trustee, collateral agent, servicer, backup servicer, escrow agent, securities intermediary, paying agent, and independent manager/director.
The Wilmington team also plays a leading role in Delaware law matters, both within the State of Delaware and nationally. Their involvement includes serving on the Alternative Entities Subcommittee of the Delaware State Bar Association, which is responsible for the drafting of the state’s preeminent partnership and limited liability company statutes, with one of the lawyers being the immediate past Chair; on the Delaware Statutory Trust Committee of the Delaware State Bar Association, which is responsible for the drafting of the state’s preeminent statutory trust statute; and in several important leadership positions within the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section, including in the LLCs, Partnerships and Unincorporated Entities (LPUE) Committee and the Private Equity and Venture Capital Committee (PEVC), with one of the lawyers being the current Vice Chair of the LPUE Committee.