Corporate Lawyer Michael Penney Joins Kaye Scholer in Chicago

Chicago: Corporate lawyer Michael Penney has joined Kaye Scholer as counsel in the firm’s Chicago office.

Penney arrives from NYSE-listed venture finance company Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (HTGC) in Palo Alto, where he served as General Counsel, Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer. In this role, he was responsible for corporate governance, securities law and Investment Company Act compliance, overseeing portfolio transactions, capital markets transactions and general legal matters.

“We are pleased to welcome a lawyer of Michael’s caliber to Kaye Scholer in Chicago,” said Tyler Nurnberg, Office Managing Partner of the firm’s Chicago office. “His impressive experience in a wide variety of transactional matters will only further strengthen the capabilities of our Corporate Department, which has welcomed three new partners this past year and continues to seek out new opportunities for strategic growth.”

Prior to joining HTGC, Penney served as Vice President and Senior Counsel of State Street Corporation in Boston, where he negotiated and led domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic investment transactions involving asset management, electronic trading, financial technology, asset servicing and custody banking businesses. Penney also advised senior management on the establishment of State Street’s Global Exchange business unit, which provides risk analytics, portfolio performance, electronic trading, data management and information products and solutions.

He was previously a corporate associate in the Boston offices of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP and Edwards Angell Palmer and Dodge LLP.

Admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Penney received his JD cum laude from Boston College Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Environmental Affairs Law Review. He also holds a BA in Political Science and Economics from the University of Nebraska.

Kaye Scholer’s Corporate Department provides sophisticated, senior-level guidance and applies deep market knowledge and broad experience to help clients solve complex commercial and legal problems and navigate their transactions to a successful conclusion. Consistently ranked by US News & World Report as one of the country’s premier corporate practices, we regularly advise a diverse group of US and international private equity firms, investment funds, pension funds and portfolio companies on their M&A and financing transactions.