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Principal office · meetings by appointment · Illinois
Chicago Corporate & Business Attorneys at Hart David Carson LLP.
Our principal office, by appointment. From River North we advise founders, funds, and families on the decisions that don't come twice: mergers and acquisitions, private capital, tax, and private wealth, with a full advisory platform behind the room.
From 1 East Erie Street, by appointment, Hart David Carson LLP's Chicago attorneys advise companies, funds, and the people who own them. The work is deals, capital, and the tax and private-wealth structure underneath both.
The firm began in 2013 in Downers Grove, in Chicago’s western suburbs, where its second office in Oakbrook Terrace still serves, and the city is its center of gravity. The clients we serve from here are businesses and their owners: founders and management teams across the Midwest's manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and technology base; the private-equity sponsors, venture investors, and family offices putting capital to work; and principals who need their personal balance sheet structured with the same care as their businesses. The work runs from mergers, acquisitions, and recapitalizations through fund formation, securities and governance, tax structuring, and the estate and asset-protection planning that sits underneath a successful enterprise.
We go early, where capital is forming and the rules are still unwritten, and we stay through the moments that decide a company's path. Where a matter touches a regulator, we have represented clients in matters before the SEC, the CFTC, and the IRS; we do not speak for the agencies, only for the companies and families in front of them. Chicago anchors a practice that runs across borders, with one standard in Chicago, London, and Dubai and a partner network coordinating with locally admitted counsel across roughly 51 jurisdictions.
Hart David Carson LLP · 1 East Erie Street, Suite 525-5459, Chicago, IL 60611 · +1 630-395-9496 · counsel@hartdavidcarson.com
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By appointment
Chicago
1 East Erie Street, Suite 525-5459
Chicago, Illinois 60611
How we help from Chicago, IL
The practices our Chicago clients reach for most often, each led by partners working to one firm-wide standard.
Corporate & M&A
Corporate
Mergers, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and the day-to-day counsel that carries a company from where it is to where it's going.
Private Capital
Private Capital
Fund formation, direct deals, and the structures behind committed capital, for sponsors, funds, and family offices.
Digital Assets
Digital Assets & Blockchain
Token, protocol, and platform work at the frontier, in markets whose rules are still being written.
Tax
Tax & Structuring
The tax architecture under a transaction or an enterprise, built once and tested against the matter ahead so it holds.
Private Wealth
Estate Planning & Private Client
Wills, trusts, and succession planning for principals and families, covering the personal balance sheet.
Asset Protection
Asset Protection
Lawful structures that put distance between what you've built and what could come for it, put in place before they're needed.
Why Chicago companies retain us
What working with the Chicago office is like.
01
Partner-led, by design
One partner is the voice on your matter for its whole life, and you can reach that partner directly. The Chicago office is where that standard was set.
02
Answer-first counsel
You get our recommendation first and the reasoning behind it second, in a form you can act on rather than a memo that restates the question. Decisions move at the speed your deal requires.
03
Deal-side depth
Corporate and private-capital work is what the firm does, rather than one department within it. Mergers and acquisitions, fund formation, and securities have been built from the same desk since 2013.
04
Regulatory fluency
We have represented clients in matters before the SEC, the CFTC, and the IRS, and we plan transactions with those rooms in mind before anyone has to enter them.
05
Owner and enterprise, together
The company, the capital behind it, and the family that owns it are one client to us, with corporate, tax, and private-wealth counsel coordinated under one roof.
06
Chicago by appointment, capable anywhere
Chicago anchors offices on three continents and a partner network that reaches roughly 51 jurisdictions through locally admitted counsel, all to one standard.
Frequently asked
Common questions about working with our Chicago attorneys.
What legal services do Hart David Carson LLP's Chicago attorneys provide?
From our Chicago office we advise on corporate law and mergers and acquisitions, private capital and fund formation, securities and capital markets, tax structuring, digital assets, commercial contracts and disputes, and the estate planning and asset protection that sits underneath a successful enterprise. Where a matter touches a regulator, we have represented clients in matters before the SEC, the CFTC, and the IRS. Every engagement is led by a partner who stays accountable from the first call to the close.
How do I schedule a consultation with a Chicago business attorney at Hart David Carson LLP?
Call +1 630-395-9496 or email counsel@hartdavidcarson.com with a short outline of your company, the decision in front of you, and your timeline. We run a conflicts check first, then set a working conversation with the partner whose practice fits the matter: Managing Partner Joel J.H. Funk for corporate and deal work, or Senior Partner Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr. for private equity, capital markets, and digital assets. You leave that first conversation with a view of the path rather than a pitch.
Where is your Chicago office, and what are the parking and transit options near 1 East Erie Street?
We are at 1 East Erie Street, Suite 525-5459, in River North, at Erie and State Streets a few blocks west of the Magnificent Mile. By CTA, the Red Line's Grand and Chicago stations are each a short walk along State Street, and buses serve State Street and Michigan Avenue. If you drive, paid public garages are available throughout the surrounding River North blocks.
What areas do Hart David Carson LLP's Chicago attorneys serve?
Chicago and the wider Chicagoland region, including the Loop, River North, and the suburbs across Cook, DuPage, Lake, and Will Counties, supported by our Oakbrook Terrace office. We also serve clients nationally through meeting locations by appointment in New York, Washington DC, Houston, Austin, Miami, Greenville, and Charleston. Cross-border matters run through our London and Dubai offices and a partner network that coordinates with locally admitted counsel across roughly 51 jurisdictions.
Who leads Hart David Carson LLP's Chicago office?
Chicago is the firm's home city and the base of Managing Partner Joel J.H. Funk, who leads the corporate and mergers-and-acquisitions practice, and Senior Partner Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., who leads the private equity, capital markets, and digital assets work. Client work is partner-led as a rule, and the partner who opens your matter is the partner who closes it.
For Chicago clients
Guides and practices our Chicago clients read next.
Chicago Business Counsel
Our Chicago hub, on how founders, owners, and investors in the city choose corporate counsel and where to start.
Explore →Mergers & Acquisitions
Deal structuring, due diligence, purchase agreements, and post-closing integration, for the transactions that define a company's path.
Explore →Commercial Litigation
Contract breaches and business conflicts in state and federal courts, handled with discipline when a dispute can't be avoided.
Explore →Corporate Counsel On Demand
Senior counsel on a retainer footing, serving as the outside general counsel for companies not yet ready for one in-house.
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