Bio

A seasoned corporate attorney, Corinne Sprague advises companies on mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts, ownership planning and transfers, and corporate planning and governance. In addition to her general corporate practice, Corinne assists family-owned businesses and family offices in designing governance, ownership and compensation structures to align with their long-term succession planning and business objectives. She also represents nonprofit issuers of securities (primarily in the impact investing space) with their debt offerings. Corinne takes pride in helping family-owned businesses remain family-owned through generational changes. As family owners hone the mission, vision and values of both their business and their family, Corinne partners with clients to develop and implement governance structures, decision-making processes, compensation strategies and ownership transition plans that reflect the long-term goals of both the business and its family ownership group. Corinne's passion for the law runs deeper than her clients' bottom lines. She invests her time and talents into building strong relationships to serve as a trusted advisor. In family businesses, Corinne appreciates the sensitivities that are at play. Her holistic approach helps create healthy strategies for family members who are working inside of the family business, for those who are exclusively shareholders and for those who may not want to remain shareholders. She is also cognizant of environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives and personal preferences and beliefs – striking a balance to achieve the desired outcomes that are meaningful to family business owners and represent their values as individuals and business owners while sustaining the long-term welfare of the business. CDFIs and similar entities meet investors’ desires to make socially responsible investments by offering notes to investors, which in turn allow these organizations to provide loans to mission-aligned organizations advancing such causes as housing, child care or the environment. In a practice that is unique to Warner, Corinne helps clients across the country issue these debt obligations, in a way that complies with both federal securities laws and state securities laws and regulations in all 50 states and various U.S. territories. Never losing sight of the big picture and practical necessities, even as she drills down to perfect the details, Corinne prides herself on her ability to bring order to corporate chaos. When working with family-owned businesses dealing with leadership succession, growth and multi-generational transfers, Corinne treasures the close, trusted-adviser status that so often develops. And yet she finds her business negotiations and M&A to be equally rewarding, as “Both sides are usually striving to increase value and create something bold and new. Even as a zealous advocate, I almost always see an opportunity for a win, win.”