Michael J. Durkheimer

Associate

Los Angeles
T +1.310.442.8812
F +1.310.820.8859

Overview

Michael Durkheimer is a corporate finance and securities lawyer who represents corporate clients in their efforts to raise money, purchase companies and assets, and manage compliance with securities regulations and regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Michael has assisted clients in a variety of industries, including technology, home electronics, healthcare and energy, as well as apparel, entertainment and wine and spirits.

Before joining the firm, Michael externed for the Honorable Thomas B. Donovan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California. Prior to that, he clerked in Business and Legal Affairs at the FX Channel. When Michael joined BakerHostetler, he assisted with the representation of Irving H. Picard, the Securities Investor Protection Act trustee, in the effort to collect money for victims of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, the largest fraud in American history. Michael has also been a four-time Summer Associate Program Mentor in BakerHostetler’s Los Angeles office and is an active participant in the summer associate and lateral associate recruiting and interview process.

Select Experience

  • Broad experience with securities filings, including leading the drafting and filing of 10-Ks, 10-Qs and 8-Ks, 13-Ds and 13-Gs, Form 3, 4 and 5s, Form Ds, and was an integral member of a team of attorneys that helped a public company client conduct a tender offer to acquire another public company.

  • Facilitated a range of mid-market transactions, including stock and asset purchase agreements, merger agreements, private placement memorandums, subscription agreements, credit agreements, registration rights agreements, standstills, terms sheets, licensing agreements, operating agreements, articles and bylaws, and settlement and release agreements.

  • Participated in numerous conversations and dealings with SEC staff relating to comments and non-public inquiries and drafted many responses, formal correspondences and memorandums relating to such requests and inquiries.

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Experience

  • Broad experience with securities filings, including leading the drafting and filing of 10-Ks, 10-Qs and 8-Ks, 13-Ds and 13-Gs, Form 3, 4 and 5s, Form Ds, and was an integral member of a team of attorneys that helped a public company client conduct a tender offer to acquire another public company.

  • Facilitated a range of mid-market transactions, including stock and asset purchase agreements, merger agreements, private placement memorandums, subscription agreements, credit agreements, registration rights agreements, standstills, terms sheets, licensing agreements, operating agreements, articles and bylaws, and settlement and release agreements.

  • Participated in numerous conversations and dealings with SEC staff relating to comments and non-public inquiries and drafted many responses, formal correspondences and memorandums relating to such requests and inquiries.

  • Trained, scaled and led a team of 75 contract attorneys to analyze and code 2.5 million documents in connection with a securities and accounting-related internal inquiry.

  • Assisted a large U.S. energy construction and engineering company with an SEC investigation of revenue recognition policies.

  • Helped clients (a company and a member of its board of directors) respond to an SEC investigation into insider trading and tipping, which concluded with the SEC ending the inquiry and taking no further action.

  • Helped client with a significant intellectual property portfolio secure multimillion-dollar financing with a preeminent global investment management firm.

  • Assisted a home electronics company in completing a multimillion-dollar stock acquisition of an American distribution company, allowing the client to expand its global distribution network.

  • Drafted various milestone-based financing documents for a growing company that had created a new health-tech innovation, and helped client secure multimillion-dollar financing by drafting and assisting with various negotiations and agreements.

Recognitions and Memberships

Prior Positions

  • Judicial Extern for the Honorable Thomas B. Donovan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California
  • FX Channel, Fox Cable Networks’ Business and Legal Affairs Department: Law Clerk
  • Morgan Stanley Smith Barney: Intern
  • Happier.com: Marketing Program Manager
  • Rethos.com: Consultant

Admissions

  • California, 2013

Education

  • J.D., University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, Dean's Merit Scholarship recipient; Writing Advisor, UCLA Law Lawyering Skills program; Senior Articles Editor, UCLA Journal of Law and Technology
  • B.A., Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 2009; cum laude; Lab Manager, Wharton Behavioral Lab; Research Assistant to Dr. Jonah Berger, Wharton Marketing Professor
  • Verified Certificate, American Government, edX and the Harvard Kennedy School, January 2016
  • Verified Certificate, User Innovation, edX and the MIT Sloan School of Management, September 2015