Overview

As a founding partner of BFKN, Peter brings his personal success and experience in business to his corporate law practice. Peter’s clients appreciate his deep understanding of them and their businesses and industries, and view Peter as a trusted business adviser as well as their go to legal counsel to get deals done.

Peter is a Senior Partner in BFKN’s Corporate & Securities and Luxury groups. His practice focuses on corporate and securities law with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and financial planning matters. He regularly represents clients in mergers and acquisitions, strategic business planning and other manner of corporate counseling. In addition, he advises a variety of large public companies, including many foreign companies in their American business activities.

As examples of the diverse nature of his practice, Peter represents a large public French company which with over 75 world renown brands is the largest luxury goods company in the world. He has also represented a large French public company in its $3.2 billion acquisition of a 62.5 percent interest in an international retailer, another French company which is a leader in the world wide snow ski business, another large French company in the merger of its business travel services subsidiary with an American business travel company to form an international company with over $8 billion in annual turnover, the controlling family in a merger of its publicly held sporting goods company into a large privately held sporting goods company and its subsequent listing on the NASDAQ national market system, and a public company in its $350 million acquisition by way of a tender offer and merger into a private equity fund.

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Peter’s extensive representation of foreign companies in the U.S. relates back to his experience at Oxford as a Marshall Scholar. He began his professional career as an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and an Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He has continued his academic affiliations by serving as an Adjunct Professor of Corporate Law and the holder of the Edward Avery Harriman Lectureship at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, where he teaches Business Planning, Corporate Finance, and Securities Regulation. He also is an Adjunct Professor in Finance at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management where he has taught Mergers and Acquisitions. He also teaches Mergers and Acquisitions in various mid-career Executive Programs at the Kellogg School of Management.

Peter is the author of numerous articles on corporate and securities matters, a speaker on corporate law subjects, and a member of various corporate law committees.

Credentials

Admissions

  • State of Illinois
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - 7th Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court

Education

  • Harvard University Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, 1970
  • Oxford University, B.Phil. (Lincoln College-1966) (Nuffield College-1967)
  • Princeton University, A.B., summa cum laude, 1965

Experience

  • BFKN has a longstanding relationship with LVMH, an iconic luxury goods and services conglomerate with 75+ brands, serving as outside counsel for its corporate and real estate transactions, as well as intellectual property and litigation matters around the world, and providing strategic legal counsel in connection with acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, brand management, employment agreements, and endorsement agreements.
  • Represented Sephora in negotiations with Kohl's on a long-term strategic partnership to create a new era of elevated Beauty at Kohl's, marrying Kohl's expansive customer reach and omnichannel convenience with Sephora's prestige service, product selection and exceptional beauty experience.
  • Represented Moët Hennessy, a division of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, in its acquisition of a minority stake & distribution partnership with WhistlePig Whiskey.
  • Represented Fendi in its acquisition of a controlling interest in Taramax SA, its watch licensee, and entry into long term license agreement.
  • Represented Football Fanatics in connection with its recapitalization and sale of Series A Preferred Shares to a well-known private equity firm.
  • Represented LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in its acquisition of a UK company that owns Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France, a 5-star hotel located on the Caribbean Island of St. Barthémy. The acquisition involved complex holding structures that required extensive tax planning and negotiations with minority shareholders.
  • Represented Kendo Holdings, Inc., a cosmetics and beauty incubator company owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and affiliated with Sephora, in strategic transactions related to the formation and launch of the brand Fenty Beauty by Rihanna.
  • Represented Moët Hennessy USA in its acquisition of Woodinville Whiskey Company, LLC.
  • Represented Moët Hennessy, a division of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, in its partnership with Shawn Jay-Z Carter, pursuant to which Moët Hennessy acquired a 50% stake in the Champagne brand, Armand de Brignac, previously wholly-owned by Jay-Z.

Newsroom

News

Recognitions

  • Super Lawyer, Illinois Super Lawyers (2007-2021)
  • Leading Lawyers Network (2003-2023)
  • Best Lawyer, The Best Lawyers in America© (2015-2025)
    • Corporate Law
  • Lt. John A. Larkin, Jr. Memorial Prize
  • Nuffield College Fellowship
  • Princeton Prize Fellowship
  • Marshall Scholar
  • bl_barack2025

Organizations

  • Member, Editorial Board, Harvard Law Review
  • Member, Ray Garrett Jr. Corporate and Securities Law Institute
  • Member and Former Planning Director, Corporate Counsel Institute
  • Member, Board of Trustees of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  • Member, Board of Trustees of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art
  • Phi Beta Kappa
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