Essay
Legacy is a capability, not an asset
What a family owns will change. What lasts is its ability to keep adapting.
Read[Draft, from teaching case, Eric to approve]
Family enterprise advisory · Chicago
Counsel for families
who intend to last.
Prospect Park advises a small number of families on governance, shareholder relations and the decisions that hold a family enterprise together across generations.
Begin a conversationWhom we serve
Families who think in generations, not quarters.
We work with founders, their families and the principals who serve them. Often there is a significant operating business, a recent liquidity event, or a third and fourth generation coming of age.
Our differentiator is simple. We have done this work from inside a family, not as its outside lawyer or accountant. We have set up a private trust company, moved capital from an operating business into an investment portfolio, and sat in the room with the founder, the children, the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren.
We work with founders, their families and the principals who serve them. We have done this work from inside a family: set up a private trust company, moved capital from an operating business into a portfolio, and sat in the room with four generations.
We take on few engagements, and we stay with them.
Where we work
Five areas, one concern: a family that can decide together.
I
Governance
Family constitutions, boards, councils and the rules that let a family decide well together. We build structures a family will actually use.
Constitutions, boards and councils a family will actually use.
II
Family and shareholder relations
Clear communication between the family members who own, those who manage, and those who do neither. Informed shareholders make better owners.
Informed shareholders make better owners.
III
Conflict resolution
Disagreement is normal in a family enterprise. We help families surface it early, address it directly, and keep it from becoming a rupture.
Surface disagreement early. Keep it from becoming a rupture.
IV
Succession and continuity
Preparing the next generation to lead, to own, or to step back with dignity. Continuity is planned, not inherited.
Continuity is planned, not inherited.
V
Capital transitions
Moving from an operating business to an investment portfolio, forming a private trust company, or bringing a sale to a close. When a transaction arises, we handle it directly, without a brokered process.
From operating business to portfolio, handled directly, without a brokered process.
Experience
Option: named
Nearly two decades
Inside The Duchossois Group, a multi-generational Chicago family enterprise.
$5.1 billion
Lead counsel on the 2021 sale of The Chamberlain Group to Blackstone.
$5 to 6 billion
Portfolio across which he led private capital investments at Duchossois Capital Management.
NYSE: NLY
Independent Director, Annaly Capital Management.
Option: discreet
Nearly two decades
Inside a multi-generational family enterprise.
General Counsel
And Head of Private Capital for a $5 billion multi-generational family enterprise.
Private trust company
General Counsel and Director of a family’s private trust company.
Public company board
Independent director of a NYSE-listed company.
Contact
Conversations begin privately.
Introductions from families, their principals and their advisors are welcome.
Introductions from families, their principals and their advisors are welcome.
execadmin@prospectpark.co