Cathy A. Birkeland

Cathy Birkeland is our exclusively recommended Capital Markets Law expert in Illinois on the Advisory Excellence website. If you need assistance in this area, please contact Cathy directly using the contact details listed above.

Cathy, Chicago Office Managing Partner and former Global Co-Chair of the Capital Markets Practice, helps issuers, underwriters, and investors execute successful capital markets transactions, and advises public companies and boards of directors on corporate governance and securities law matters.

For more than two decades, Cathy has advised clients on a broad array of capital markets transactions, including:

• Initial public offerings
• Dual track IPO/M&A processes
• Spin-off transactions
• Follow-on offerings
• Block trades
• ATM programs

Cathy advises public and private companies of all sizes across the globe, including Fortune 500 companies, emerging growth companies, investment banking firms, investors, and private equity firms. She has experience with numerous industries, including technology, hospitality, REITs, consumer retail, financial services, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing.

When counselling public companies and their boards of directors, she draws on her insights into the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and regulatory processes to advise on:

• ’34 Act reporting
• Complex disclosure requirements
• Corporate governance best practices
• NYSE/Nasdaq listing
• Securities regulation
• Tender offers
• Consent solicitations
• Private placements
• Rule 144
• Section 16
• Share repurchase programs
• 10b5-1 trading plans
• Financial reporting

Highly regarded by clients and peers, Cathy has been named as one of the Most Influential Women Lawyers in Chicago by Crain’s Chicago Business, which recognised her as a “first-rate capital markets lawyer.” The Chicago Business Journal also named Cathy to its 2018 Women of Influence list.

She regularly speaks on capital markets and corporate governance matters at industry conferences. She serves on the Executive Committee of the annual Ray Garrett Jr. Corporate & Securities Law Institute, sponsored by Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.