Mergers and acquisitions, securities litigation, white-collar defense and private wealth, for boards and founders in Chicago since 1979.
Meridian & Cole has practised in Chicago since 1979. Forty partners, 118 lawyers, and no matter staffed by anyone whose name you have not been given in writing.
$42.6B
Transaction value closed since 2019
31
SEC and DOJ inquiries closed with no action
47
Years since the firm opened on LaSalle Street
Buy-side and sell-side transactions from letter of intent through post-closing integration, for strategics, sponsors and founder-led companies.
Defense of issuers, officers and directors in class actions, derivative suits and SEC enforcement, from the first stop-loss to final judgment.
Representation of companies and individuals in federal investigations, grand jury proceedings and parallel regulatory actions.
Estate, trust and succession planning for founders, families and closely held companies, including fiduciary litigation when it comes.
The same sequence on every engagement, transactional or contentious, so you always know which week you are in.
The first conversation is with the partner who would run the matter, not with a business development team. By the end of it you have a scope, a staffing plan and a fee structure in writing.
Every issue we surface carries an estimated dollar exposure, a likelihood, and a recommendation. You should be able to take the register into a board meeting without translating it.
Stock, asset or merger; escrow or holdback; earn-out or rollover. We model each against your tax position with your accountants in the room rather than after the fact.
Before the first markup we agree with you which five points are worth losing the deal over. Everything else is trading material, and we trade it quickly so the calendar stays on our side.
The schedules are where most post-closing claims are born. They are drafted alongside the agreement rather than assembled in the last forty-eight hours by whoever is still awake.
Integration, transition services, escrow claims and the first purchase-price adjustment are run by the same lawyers. Nothing is handed to a group that has never read the agreement.
$1.4B
Industrial manufacturer sold, cleared through a second request
214
Matters resolved without trial since 2019
11
Add-on acquisitions closed on one platform in 22 months
They found the indemnity gap our previous counsel had signed off on twice. It was worth eleven million dollars and it took them nine days.
Priya told us on day one what the dismissal argument would be. Fourteen months later that was the argument the judge adopted.
What I wanted was someone who would say no to me. Whitman said no three times in the first month and the deal is better for it.
The federal investigation ran two years. In that time Desmond never once told me something was fine when it was not.
Our family had put off the succession conversation for a decade. Ingrid got it done in four meetings without anyone leaving the room angry.
The first call is with the partner who would run the matter, and it is not billed. Conflicts are cleared within one business day.
