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Overview

An experienced advisor on securities along with mergers and acquisitions, Craig is skilled at crafting win-win transactions that result in strong and productive relationships.

Craig provides results-oriented legal advice to boards and senior management of both publicly held and large private companies. By listening to clients and working to understand their businesses, goals and industries, he provides thoughtful and sound advice on corporate governance, SEC reporting obligations and disclosure matters. With decades in transactional practice, Craig brings an in-depth knowledge of mergers, acquisitions and dispositions of private and public companies as well as keen insight into the business challenges facing companies in numerous industries.

Recognizing that clients have differing expectations for outside counsel, Craig works closely with each to understand the roles they expect him and his team to play in any deal. He readily adapts to their expectations while leading teams of attorneys to effectively, efficiently and successfully negotiate and close acquisitions, dispositions, corporate reorganizations and corporate and commercial financings.

Over the years, Craig also has served as de facto general counsel for a number of privately held and small publicly held companies that did not have an in-house general counsel.

Industry

Services

Recognition

  • The Best Lawyers In America®
    • Corporate Law, 2007-2025
    • Mergers and Acquisitions Law, 2021-2025
    • Securities/Capital Markets Law, 2007-2025
  • IFLR 1000 United States
    • M&A (Missouri), Highly Regarded, 2018-2019, 2022-2024
  • Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, Securities & Corporate Finance, 2005, 2009

Education

  • J.D., Saint Louis University School of Law
      • Saint Louis University Law Journal, Editor
  • M.B.A., Lindenwood University
  • B.A., University of Kansas

Admissions

  • Missouri

Professional Memberships and Certifications

Experience

Securities and Capital Markets

  • Represented issuers in IPOs, secondary offerings and follow-on offerings.
  • Represented privately held company in stock repurchase transactions over alternative trading system.
  • Advised special committee of boards of directors in "going private" transactions, including supervising necessary corporate transactional work and drafting necessary securities disclosure documentation and filings.
  • Represented numerous manufacturing companies, bank holding companies and insurance companies in initial public offerings, follow-on offerings and secondary offerings.
  • Familiarity with NYSE and NASDAQ listing requirements.

Mergers & Acquisitions

  • Led or assisted with hundreds of transactions including:
  • Represented privately held company in $98 million sale of intermodal terminal businesses, including formation of joint ventures with buyer for selected future developments.
  • Responsible for structuring corporate reorganization and related corporate documentation by which Casino Queen became first 100 percent ESOP-owned casino.
  • Represented A.G. Industries Inc. in sale to Filtration Group Corporation, a portfolio company of Madison Capital Partners, a private equity firm.
  • Represented privately held company engaged in manufacture and sale of paper bags used for packaging consumer and commercial food products, in sale of company to operations-focused private equity firm.
  • Represented sale of two related entities, both privately-held technology businesses, engaged in business of software as service for mass communication information distribution, to strategic buyer.

Bank Holding Company-Related Matters and Transactions

  • Represented hedge fund in obtaining first-time ruling from Federal Reserve Bank granting hedge funds holding non-voting TARP shares of a bank holding company the right to participate in appointment of two members of the board directors.
  • Represented numerous bank holding companies in acquisition or disposition of other bank holding companies or commercial banks.
  • Counseled bank holding company with assets of $500 million in going public and led subsequent acquisitions of target bank holding companies in tax-free transactions, thereby increasing asset size to more than $1 billion by time it was acquired by a larger bank holding company.
Legal Updates | March 06, 2024
SEC Adopts Final Climate-Related Disclosure Rules
Legal Updates | January 08, 2024
Looking Ahead to the 10-K and Proxy Season
Articles | February 07, 2023
ESG Considerations in Community Bank M&A
White Papers | September 13, 2021
Diversity on Public Company Boards of Directors
Outside the Office

Craig is a history buff. He and his wife enjoy traveling in Europe and steeping themselves in the antiquities of Greece and Rome. During a recent trip to France, they stood in the bluff-top pillboxes above Omaha Beach where German soldiers had fired down on Allied soldiers, including Craig’s own father. In reading, non-fiction and biographies are his genres of choice. He’s also a sports fan and especially enjoys baseball along with professional and college football.

Community Leadership

The grateful beneficiary of a successful kidney transplant, Craig values the work of the National Kidney Foundation and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Advisors of the National Kidney Foundation for East Missouri/Metro East (NKF-EMME).