See individual biographies for licensure details
Practice: Mergers & Acquisitions
Vincent Aiello is a Nevada-based attorney with 27 years of experience representing family offices, private foundations, and high-net-worth individuals in complex fiduciary disputes, dynasty trust litigation, asset management, and wealth preservation matters. He is one of a small number of practitioners in the Mountain West who combines sophisticated trust and estate litigation capabilities with deep transactional experience across the full range of asset classes commonly held by family offices, including commercial mixed-use real property acquisition and development, operating businesses in the hotel and timeshare space. He frequently structures financing arrangements employed by these family offices.
Andy Anderson helps clients, from negotiation to closing, in corporate transactions such as debt and equity financings and M&A, allowing them to execute with purpose and speed.
Hannah Becker is a nationally recognized attorney for alcohol beverage regulatory and transactional matters. She guides clients through all legal and commercial aspects of the food and beverage industry, combining creative and strategic instincts with an energetic, detail-oriented approach to licensure and permitting, labeling, advertising, trade practices, product classification, importation and distribution agreements, Tied-House and cross-tier issues, and alcohol franchise laws. She is also recognized for her strong grasp of how emerging technologies and new regulated product categories impact alcohol sales and related compliance matters.
Jeffrey Berger serves as a trusted advisor to clients across a wide range of industries, bringing decades of beneficial experience to structure complex corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investments, fund formations, and executive compensation arrangements.
Trace Blankenship regularly advises chief executives, senior management, boards of directors, and entrepreneurs on strategy, execution, and legal requirements of significant business transactions, complex leadership and ownership decisions, and day-to-day operations. He provides responsive day-to-day legal advice on all aspects of corporate operations critical to his clients’ success and growth.
Ria Caldwell helps a diverse array of corporate clients optimize their business opportunities so they can stay focused on the future. A member of the Corporate and Business Transactions team, she represents private equity firms, venture capital funds, emerging growth companies and their founders, and both privately and publicly held businesses across a wide range of industries and global markets.
Tom Cason helps clients navigate complex corporate transactions. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, private securities offerings, joint ventures, reorganizations and recapitalizations. In this context, Tom works with clients to gain insight into the unique characteristics and risks of each client’s business to ensure their needs are addressed and the transaction is advanced in an efficient and cost-effective way while not compromising on results.
A seasoned corporate attorney with deep experience, Barry Cassell represents private equity funds, public and private corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, and individual clients in a wide range of transactional and governance matters, providing strategic counsel that benefits operations and takes advantage of growth and sale opportunities. His practice spans mergers and acquisitions, debt financings, formation of joint ventures and business entities, executive employment and severance arrangements, securities law compliance, and general corporate and commercial matters.
Alexander (Xander) Curl counsels clients on a variety of transactional matters with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, also frequently assisting with corporate governance and commercial contract matters.
Jim Dankenbring represents businesses in mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, complex contract negotiations, and executive compensation.
Patrice Douglas counsels banks, energy companies and utilities on legal, regulatory, and compliance matters. She helps clients navigate the complex regulatory issues they face in today’s economy so they can close transactions efficiently and move forward to realize their goals.
Jerry Ehrlich counsels individual and business clients in the areas of corporate and business transactions, federal income taxation, trusts and estates as well as real estate acquisition, sale, and finance. With a diverse background in many transactional law matters, he prides himself in taking a holistic approach to clients’ problems and identifying key business and legal issues.
Jon Farnsworth assists clients with all aspects of business and technology law, motivated by the belief that the best way to drive progress is to empower business owners and executives with innovative solutions. His guiding principle is clear: “Help good people do good things.” With a steadfast conviction that an attorney should foster business, not inhibit it, Jon has built his career on being a trusted advisor, enabling entrepreneurs and companies to innovate, grow, and thrive.
Bryan Farris creatively and strategically guides businesses through a wide range of corporate transactions and associated decision-making with a focus on advising startups, new ventures, and emerging companies across both national and international legal landscapes. In addition, he is a recognized leader in the oil and gas space, with extensive experience managing oil and gas transactions, including mergers and acquisitions of oil and gas properties; capital formation, financing, and securities, including private offerings and syndications; mineral rights valuations; and general industry negotiation, mediation, and litigation.
Elizabeth Fast is a retired partner at Spencer Fane in the Banking and Financial Services group. For more than 40 years, she has been counseling banks, holding companies and other financial institutions on legal, regulatory, and compliance matters.
Elizabeth Felker is a corporate and transactional attorney whose practice focuses on business transactions, employee benefits, and executive and deferred compensation. As a member of the firm’s Business Transactions Practice Group, Liz draws on her experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate formations and reorganizations, and public and private securities offerings to provide effective, pragmatic solutions to clients’ transactional and other business-related needs.
Jeff Figge practices in the estate planning and business transactions groups. In his business practice, Jeff represents privately held and startup entities on formation, sales and acquisitions, complex contract negotiations and implementation, and various organizational, tax, and corporate succession issues.
Scott Goldstein’s practice concentrates in the areas of bankruptcy and reorganization for businesses, representation of secured creditors and creditors’ committees in workouts and bankruptcies, and bond default situations both in federal and state court.
Paul Hanley is a partner in our Denver business transactions and financial services practices. Paul’s corporate and commercial law practice involves mergers and acquisitions, Regulation D and Private Placements, private equity and debt finance, corporate and partnership structuring, commercial loans, family limited partnerships, UCC foreclosures, including strict foreclosures, tax planning, international structuring and transactions, and commercial transactions.
Pete Hartweger is a partner in the firm’s Business Transactions group. His emphasis is in mergers and acquisitions, tax, general business, pass-through entities, non-profit and tax-exempt entities, and IRS tax controversies. A large portion of his practice involves representing small- to medium-size closely-held businesses; counseling on contract, employment, tax, licensing, and ownership matters; and navigating the day-to-day issues encountered by these businesses. His clients also include several large organizations, including a few publicly traded companies.
Larry Haut is a seasoned transactional attorney known for his practical, creative approach to advising clients in all facets of their business, from initial set-up through operations and ultimate exits. He is equally proficient from both sides of the table, having long represented buyers and sellers, institutions, and entrepreneurs in a myriad of capital market opportunities. From years of experience comes his practical approach, bringing a solutions-oriented mindset and a “can-do” attitude in every engagement. He advises clients across a wide range of industries within corporate, real estate, and hospitality landscapes.
Bill Hayward is a corporate attorney who, for more than four decades, has counseled an array of clients with their business and legal transactions, including real estate, corporate finance, lending, and mergers and acquisitions. He represents clients in a wide variety of industries ranging from startup businesses to well-established corporations.
Jay Ji is a member of the firm’s business transactions practice group and helps clients navigate complex legal and regulatory issues so that they can meet the increasing demands of today’s business environment.
Arnie Kaplan has significant experience in public and private offerings, municipal bond financings, loan transactions, tender offers, mergers and acquisitions, and other federal and state securities matters. Arnie advises business entities, political subdivisions, and 501(c)(3) organizations on corporate governance and business matters.
David Kitchin provides strategic legal counsel to clients – ranging from startups and emerging companies to private equity funds and their portfolio companies – involved in a variety of complex corporate transactions, uncovering the intricacies of each unique deal and applying comprehensive, detail-oriented legal acumen to deliver critical advice and timely solutions.
John Klevorn is a transactional attorney, assisting clients in effectively structuring and executing a wide range of corporate and business transactions, and providing responsive, day-to-day legal services that lead to successful operations.
Justin Leck provides counsel on transactional matters to a wide variety of clients, including privately-held companies, municipalities, and non-profits. He focuses his practice on corporate law and real estate, including transfers and leases of real property, mergers and acquisitions, and providing general advice and services to privately held companies.
Elizabeth Man-Wai Li is a corporate and transactional attorney who advises clients across the business lifecycle, with a focus on venture-backed and growth-stage companies, mergers and acquisitions, and general business matters. She counsels companies and investors on financings, investments, and other strategic transactions.
Jim Loranger helps businesses with mergers and acquisitions, financing of development projects using tax credit incentive programs, corporate governance, planning, and other business transactions.
Rob Mahon primarily serves as outside general counsel and lead mergers and acquisitions counsel for clients. He regularly represents private and public companies; family offices, private equity firms, and their portfolio companies; and startups, search funds, and self-funded entrepreneurs, for which he’s handled billions of dollars of transactions.
Blane Markley is a partner at Spencer Fane, advising hospitals, health systems, physician groups, and investors on complex health care transactions and regulatory strategy.
His practice sits at the intersection of deal execution and regulatory risk. He helps organizations structure and close transactions, navigate compliance obligations, and manage operational exposure across the full lifecycle of health care enterprises.
Macy Matthews is a member of the firm’s Corporate and Business Transactions group in the Plano office. She assists clients in all aspects of their business needs, and has experience advising clients on a diverse range of transactional matters, including forming and structuring business entities, asset purchase agreements, corporate governance, and commercial real estate transactions.
Rob Matz has more than 20 years of experience advising clients on a wide range of financing and corporate transactions, using a full range of options to create beneficial lending agreements with a focus on secured and unsecured loan facilities and private placements of securities, including PIPEs and other forms of debt financing. His practice includes leveraged loan facilities, acquisition financings, cash flow and asset-based credit facilities, recapitalizations, high-yield bonds, convertible debt, Term B loans, mezzanine financings, and venture capital transactions.
Mike, former chair of the firm’s Business Transactions practice group, concentrates his practice in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate, securities and nonprofits. Mike has handled hundreds of  acquisitions, dispositions and mergers ranging in size from a few million dollars to over a billion dollars. His experience includes representing purchasers and sellers in many industries, including technology and software, craft beer and alcohol, broadcast and cable television, consumer products, professional services, manufacturing, insurance, food processing, construction and mining.
Jessica Merrigan is a partner in the Kansas City and Overland Park offices of Spencer Fane. She counsels clients on environmental matters regarding regulatory requirements and represents them in litigation of environmental claims, including contribution claims under the federal Superfund law.
Apriele Minott represents emerging growth companies, investors, and private equity and venture capital firms, providing strategic counsel tailored to clients’ unique risks and opportunities as she guides them through mergers and acquisitions, venture financings, and a broad range of general corporate matters.
Pete Mirakian focuses his practice on corporate governance, securities, mergers and acquisitions, and tax law.
John Moore regularly serves as lead corporate and M&A counsel for search fund, private equity-backed, and self-funded entrepreneurs, as well as traditional private equity funds and family offices. Employing his background in economics and strong, sensible legal knowledge, John is adept at formulating strategic plans for clients and managing a team of attorneys and support staff to effectively and efficiently meet his clients’ goals.
Heather Morris is a member of the firm’s Banking and Financial Services group. She concentrates her practice in the areas of transactional and regulatory banking matters, including mergers and acquisitions, commercial lending, workouts, bankruptcy, and corporate trust.
Mike Patterson helps businesses navigate corporate, compliance, and securities matters. He has extensive experience in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, equity and debt offerings, foreign direct investment, distribution, agency and licensing matters, and market entry strategies. He efficiently resolves legal matters by identifying key issues, focusing resources, and executing on a plan.
Andy Peskoe focuses his practice on the representation of private and public emerging growth companies and venture capital and private equity funds in domestic and international transactions, providing comprehensive guidance on efficient and beneficial deal structuring. He advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financings, technology transfer and licensing matters, and complex financing transactions, including leveraged buyouts and growth equity investments.
With a legal career spanning over a decade, Sarah has established herself as a highly skilled and dedicated technology and licensing attorney that empowers technology-driven businesses to thrive in the digital landscape, ranging from closely held emerging businesses to publicly trade corporations. She has a deep understanding of the intricacies of technology-based agreements and has successfully represented SaaS companies, resellers, and e-commerce providers, guiding them through the complexities of licensing agreements, intellectual property protection, and compliance matters.
Gary Powell was a founding partner of the firm’s Springfield office, and a member of the Tax, Trusts, & Estates Group. Gary had more than 40 years of experience in estate planning, trust and estate administration, and tax and business transactions. His leadership abilities and expertise with sophisticated estate planning, business succession planning, business formation and acquisitions, and shareholder and buy-sell agreements were evident as he earnestly served clients and supported colleagues.
Megan Rockwell guides clients through opportunities to start, grow, and sell their businesses with a specific focus on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising transactions, and general corporate matters. She represents founders, issuers, and investors across a range of industries, including hospitality, technology, financial services, and consumer products, providing practical and strategic counsel throughout all stages of a company’s life cycle.
Dave Seitter simplifies complex business issues critical to his clients’ transactions and responds rapidly to provide legal counseling to dynamic business situations.
Eric Steinle is a partner on the firm’s Corporate and Business Transactions team. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financing, securities offerings, and corporate governance.
Allison Tanner assists clients in connection with acquiring, selling or merging businesses or assets, as well as financial and real estate transactions. She strategizes with clients to organize and coordinate all the details involved in large corporate or real estate transactions, and assists clients in developing solutions to their transactional issues. She advises business owners and assists them through consultation, education, and interaction on all matters related to growing, selling, and buying businesses.
Stephen A. Weinstein knows how important employee benefits are when it comes to attracting and retaining good employees. He leverages his experience in this area to make sure that these benefit programs actually do what they are designed to do – contribute to the long-term success of the client and its employees.
Nicole Zaworska represents private and public domestic and international companies, as well as individuals, in a broad range of business and transactional matters, including corporate governance and organizational issues, mergers and acquisitions, and taxation. Her experience also includes a strong background in real estate financing, deal structure, and associated litigation.