Jay Erens is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP and a member of the firm's Commercial Transactions & Business Counseling and Transactional & Securities Practices. He has 50 years of experience in representing both individuals and business entities in a variety of complex business and financial matters. Within those areas, he counsels on a broad range of activities, including the structuring and implementation of business and financial transactions, as well as litigation relating to those activities.
His activities touch on many areas of the law, including corporations, partnerships, and other business forms; banking; secured transactions; real estate; securities regulation; and federal and state income, gift, and estate taxation. Mr. Erens focuses on the totality of a client's legal needs, providing comprehensive services and the skills of himself and others in the manner that will most effectively meet clients' objectives.
Mr. Erens has been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system and is a member of the American Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association. He was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® for over twenty consecutive years in the field of corporate law and is listed in Who's Who in American Law and Who's Who in America. He was also selected for inclusion in the 2006 and 2007 Illinois Super Lawyers® and has also been named one of the Leading Lawyers in Illinois by the Leading Lawyers Network in the categories of closely and privately held business law, real estate law - commercial, and real estate law - finance.*
Mr. Erens received his law degree from Harvard Law School (L.L.B., 1959, magna cum laude) and his B.A. degree from Yale University (1956, summa cum laude). He served as law clerk to Justice John M. Harlan of the United States Supreme Court in 1959-60. Mr. Erens is admitted to the bar in Illinois and is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
*The Illinois Supreme Court does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law and no award or recognition is a requirement to practice law in Illinois.