Education

Indiana University - J.D., 2003

Primary Focus Area

  • Business Law

Community

Youth Baseball

Other Focus Areas

Mergers & Acquisitions
Intellectual Property
Real Estate Law

Enjoys

Stuart is committed to creating new value for businesses by helping them grow quickly and sustainably. When you work with Stuart, you get practical answers that get right to the heart of the matter. His career encompasses more than a decade of experience in various aspects of business law. Stuart has been lead counsel for business formations, domestic and international mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, and real estate transactions. He is also actively involved with non-profits such as MatchBOX, Purdue Foundry, and The Anvil, working to help startups and entrepreneurs succeed.

Stuart attended the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University as an undergrad, then graduated magna cum laude from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He currently serves on the Indiana Business Law Survey Commission and is the past president of the Ag Law Section of the Indiana State Bar Association.

Outside of Gutwein Law, Stuart serves as a board member of each of Granite Management, LLC, a student housing property management firm based in West Lafayette, Indiana and M25 Group, LLC, a venture capital firm based in Chicago, Illinois that invests in technology companies throughout the Midwest. Stuart enjoys spending time with his family, trail running, and coaching youth baseball.

Representative Transactions

  • M&A
    • structuring and negotiation of the purchase of a supermajority interest in a Michigan manufacturing company and operating agreement protecting majority interest including put/call provisions of the minority members;
    • structuring and negotiating the merger of two Swedish manufacturing and distribution companies;
    • the merger of nine corporations, and the split-up and reorganization of a corporation with separate operating divisions;
    • negotiating and closing the disposition of substantially all of the assets of a manufacturing company;
    • negotiating and closing the stock purchase and joint venture arrangement with a Brazilian manufacturing company
  • Finance
    • negotiating and closing senior credit facilities, including both revolving and term facilities for manufacturing companies and service companies
  • Real Estate
    • acquisition, finance, and debt and equity structures of real estate
    • negotiation of long term leases for manufacturing, office, and engineering technology facilities
    • development of an anaerobic digester fueled by animal waste and other organic matter that produces electricity sold to a public utility company with the project funded by private equity, government grants, and senior secured financing;
    • representation of a renewable energy developer before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission in regard to a feed-in tariff for renewable energy;
    • successful arbitration of a terminated Florida commercial real estate contract before the American Arbitration Association
  • Operational
    • drafting a synthetic equity incentive compensation plan under IRC § 409A
    • drafting and negotiating customer and vendor contracts for a variety of manufacturing and service companies