Gerald Haberkorn Bio

Jerry Haberkorn is Co-Managing Partner of the firm's Chicago office. Jerry focuses his practice on general corporate law including the formation and maintenance of entities, contract negotiations, and the sale and acquisition of businesses and product lines. In addition, over the past 20 years, Jerry has handled a significant number of merger and acquisition related matters including alleged breach of representation and warranties claims, as well as fraud allegations. Earlier in his career, Jerry maintained an active trial practice in state and federal courts throughout the U.S., including significant directors and officers litigation matters, such as breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and violations of state, corporate, and limited liability company laws. Jerry advises clients in the entirety of their businesses including corporate governance, commercial transactions, insurance, trade secrets, intellectual asset infringement, finance, securities, and breach of representation. He represents and counsels publicly traded and privately held companies, banks, insurers, entrepreneurs, business partnerships and professional service limited liability corporations, and partnerships in transactions and professional liability. Jerry’s full-circle practice grew as he uniquely served all his clients’ legal needs, allowing him to provide business clients and professional service partnerships the attention they deserved. He has led clients in the origination, negotiation, and execution of transactions, while maintaining a trial practice where he successfully attacked, defended, modified, or nullified transactions. Jerry contends that practicing in the transactional area vastly improved his skill in litigation. Jerry maintains both a robust national and international practice, with a special focus in the UK. He has published a wide variety of articles in the U.S. and the UK and was selected as the first U.S. attorney to participate in the UK publication Acquisition Finance. Jerry and British finance experts respond monthly to readers’ inquiries regarding the commercial concerns and legal issues of international transactions. Prior to joining the firm, Jerry was the Chair of a well-established litigation law firm in its Chicago, Illinois office where he was also the senior partner responsible for the firm’s corporate and litigation practices. Jerry was recognized by Lawyers of Distinction in 2020 for his excellence in the practice of law, peer-selected as a Leading Lawyers Advisory Board Member in 2020, named a “Top Rated Lawyer” by Corporate Counsel and The American Lawyer, selected by Premier Corporate Lawyers as its exclusive representative attorney in Chicago, Illinois, and appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to serve on the Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee. Since 2007, he has consistently been recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” in two practice areas by Leading Lawyers magazine and as a “Super Lawyer” in the areas of Business Litigation, Business and Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions by Super Lawyers magazine. Jerry was a finalist in Fast Company magazine’s 2005 “Fast 50” as one of the “high impact legal leaders” in the U.S. for his successful litigation of complex domestic and international commercial transactions and entrepreneurial approach to his practice. He was selected as a Federal Trial Bar Instructor for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and appointed to its prestigious Local Rules Committee, recognizing the range of his federal litigation practice experience. Jerry was recognized as one of its “Notable M&A Dealmakers” in 2025 by Crain’s Chicago Business. In 2021, he was featured in the article “What Are Trade Secrets? by Lawyer Monthly magazine. Jerry is AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell.