Christopher C. Cain

Christopher C. Cain is a partner and business lawyer in Foley & Lardner’s Chicago and Madison offices. He is co-chair of the firm’s Transactions Practice, and a member of the firm’s Partner Selection Committee. Christopher is also a member of the firm’s Technology Transactions, Cybersecurity, and Privacy and Food & Beverage Industry Teams.

Christopher helps clients solve business and legal problems and helps entrepreneurs scale and protect their businesses. Christopher represents fast growing healthy food and beverage companies, as well as technology startups. Christopher advises clients on acquiring technology solutions. He represents private equity and strategic clients in mergers & acquisitions and capital raises in a myriad of industries.

Prior to Foley, Christopher served as vice president and general counsel for a publicly traded software company where he handled and oversaw all aspects of the company's legal issues. Christopher was also a Certified Public Accountant and tax senior at Arthur Andersen.

Recognition

Christopher is Peer Review Rated as BV Distinguished®, a mark of excellence in the Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ system.*

Christopher has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2010 in the field of Corporate Law and since 2013 in the field of Mergers and Acquisitions Law. He has been named 2015 and 2017 Madison Mergers and Acquisitions “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers®.

Christopher was recognized by The Legal 500 for his work in the areas of media, technology and telecoms - transactions (2013-2016) and mergers and acquisitions (2015). He was also included in the 2006 and 2007 Wisconsin Super Lawyers–Rising Stars® editions for his securities and corporate finance work. In 2005, In Business magazine cited him as one of the "40 Under 40" up and coming business leaders in the greater Madison area. In addition, Christopher is a 2009 recipient of Foley & Lardner’s Carl Hitchner Mentor of the Year Award, which is an annual award recognizing outstanding mentoring to young attorneys by partners and senior counsel.

Community Engagement

Christopher is a co-founder of Catapult Chicago, a non-profit co-working space for the Midwest’s most promising startups. In 2014, he was mentioned in the Chicago Tribune article, “Inside views on Chicago’s coworking spaces: Catapult,” (January 2014).

Education

• University of Minnesota Law School (J.D., magna cum laude)
  • Articles editor, Minnesota Journal of Global Trade
  • Member, Order of the Coif
• University of Wisconsin – Madison (B.B.A., with distinction)
  • Accounting

Admissions and Certifications

• Wisconsin
• Illinois
• Minnesota (membership currently inactive)
• Minnesota Certified Public Accountant license (currently inactive)

Representative Matters

• Represented Wellspring Worldwide in its sale to Resurgens Technology Partners
• Represented LitCharts in its sale to Course Hero
• Represented CUNA Mutual Group in its acquisition of CuneXus
• Represented CUNA Mutual Group in its acquisition of Forever Car
• Represented Aztec Software in its sale to Providence Strategic Growth
• Represented Princeton TMX in its sale to The Stephens Group
• Represented Fibroblast in its sale to Cerner
• Represented a leading digital consultancy to a private equity firm
• Represented Delve in its sale to Trinity Hunt Partners
• Represented Vive Organic in its sale to Suja Life
• Represented RXBAR in its sale to Kellogg Company for $600 million.
• Represented Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA) in its acquisition of Profitect Inc.
• Represented CUNA Mutual Group in its acquisition of Compliance Systems Inc.
• Represented Nu-Pak Inc. and Prairie Industries, Inc. in their sale to The Halifax Group.
• Represented Club Automation in its sale to Daxko.
• Represents CMFG Ventures in its investments in fintech startups.
• Represented a private equity firm in acquiring Pacific Aviation Corporation.
• Represented a private equity firm in acquiring NewKota, a services and rentals business in the oil & gas field.
• Represented a private equity firm in an add-on purchase for an oil/gas manufactured equipment platform - Cerda Industries Inc.
• Represented 640 Labs, a hardware/software company, in selling its business to Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto.
• Represented a national insurance company in its negotiations with an international consulting, technology, and outsourcing firm to implement a cloud-based policy and claims management system.
• Represented Inoca Capital Partners in acquiring Fox Service Company Inc.
• Represented a private equity firm in acquiring Burrow Construction.
• Represented a private equity firm in acquiring Universal Tank & Fabrication Inc.
• Represented Wing Capital Group LLC in acquiring Sani-Matic Inc.
• Represented a leading national commercial real estate developer and owner (including through REITs) in securing and negotiating a license and related agreements for a cloud-based portal for managing and accessing materials used by boards of directors.
• Represented a large public university foundation in securing and negotiating a license and related agreements for system wide, enterprise resource planning software.
• Represented a leading software company in the insurance vertical, with a complex software transaction involving multi-stage product development funded by a third party, who in turn licensed the software in development back to the client. Upon completion, the client was able to buy-back the software program.
• Represented Vista Automotive LLC in the sale of its division of automotive aftermarket business for remanufactured parts to a strategic buyer.
• Represented a software company in the insurance vertical in acquiring insurance policy management and rating software.
• Assisted a large food and sundry products catalog company in acquiring substantially a large direct marketing company in a public auction following an assignment for the benefit of creditors.
• Represented a leading software company in the educational enterprise space in the sale of its business via a merger with a larger strategic partner.
• Represented a publicly traded specialty vehicle manufacturer in acquiring another specialty vehicle manufacturer's business for $140 million.
• Assisted a leading manufacturer of animal nutrition products in a complete strategic acquisition of certain manufacturing, processing and distribution assets.
• Assisted Protiviti Inc. in acquiring all of the capital stock of a strategic competitor engaged in the business of providing information technology consulting services to the federal government.
• Represented L’Etoile, a renowned Madison-area restaurant and cooking school, in the sale of its business.
• Negotiated software license agreements for an enterprise-class and cloud-based software for student recruitment and enrollment management, including maintenance agreements and associated service level agreements.
• Assisted Sonic Foundry Inc. in selling certain assets related to its software development, acquisition, licensing, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution business to Sony Pictures Digital.
• Represented a large, family-owned, plastics extruder company in the sale of its business to a strategic investor.

* The Illinois Supreme Court does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law and no certificate, award or recognition is a requirement to practice law in Illinois.