01
Your partners or investors stopped agreeing.
Deadlocked owners, fiduciary breaches, disputed buyouts, and shareholder exposure for tax and accounting fraud.
Business law for closely held companies · Chicago
Chicago business law for the moment the business is on the line.
Jordan & Zito advises owners and executives of closely held companies through disputes, restructurings, and the contracts that prevent both. You work with the partners from the first call.
- Nearly 70 years of combined practice
- Partner-direct on every matter
- Chicago, Illinois and Indiana
350 N. LaSalle St., Suite 700, Chicago
02 · Situations
Most clients call us about one of four things.
Each one runs on a different clock and needs a different first move. Pick the one closest to yours.
02
The lender is calling, or the cash isn't there.
Loan workouts, financial restructuring, and Chapter 11 reorganization, for borrowers and for lenders.
03
A deal, a dispute, or an exit.
Forming the company, litigating commercial disputes, and planning a sale or breakup on your terms.
04
You're about to sign something that matters.
Contracts, leases, vendor terms, employment agreements and noncompetes, drafted to prevent the next dispute.
Not sure which one fits? Call 312-489-8174 and describe it in a sentence.
03 · The cost of waiting
Every week you wait, you have fewer options.
Business problems rarely get worse all at once. They narrow. Deadlines pass, positions harden, and the moves that were easy in month one aren't available in month six.
| Situation | Call early | Call late |
|---|---|---|
| A contract | Fix the language before you sign. | Litigate what the language meant. |
| A partner dispute | Negotiate a buyout while the business still has value. | Divide what's left after the fight. |
| A loan | Work out terms while the lender still wants a deal. | Respond to enforcement on the lender's schedule. |
- A contract
Call early
Fix the language before you sign.
Call late
Litigate what the language meant.
- A partner dispute
Call early
Negotiate a buyout while the business still has value.
Call late
Divide what's left after the fight.
- A loan
Call early
Work out terms while the lender still wants a deal.
Call late
Respond to enforcement on the lender's schedule.
Schedule a consultation →
General information, not legal advice. Every situation turns on its own facts.
04 · The partners
The lawyers you meet are the lawyers who do the work.
Jordan & Zito is built around two partners who work directly with company owners and executives. Large-firm experience, small-firm attention.
Gregory J. Jordan
Partner
Business litigation, creditors' rights, bankruptcy and financial restructuring.
- Admitted 1984 · Indiana and Illinois
- U.S. Supreme Court · U.S. Tax Court · Seventh Circuit
- Super Lawyers® 2022–2026
- Martindale-Hubbell AV Rating [PLACEHOLDER: confirm current]
- Guest lecturer, Notre Dame Executive MBA
- J.D., Indiana University Maurer School of Law · B.B.A., Finance, University of Notre Dame
Mark R. Zito
Partner
Contracts and documentation, commercial litigation, partnership and investor law, Chapter 11.
- Admitted 2001 · Illinois · U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- J.D. with distinction, University of Iowa College of Law · Iowa Law Review
- B.A., Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
- [PLACEHOLDER: recognitions and memberships]
For lenders and creditors
We've sat on both sides of the table.
Greg Jordan has represented borrowers in reorganizations and secured and unsecured creditors in workouts. Lenders get counsel who knows where the borrower will push. Borrowers get counsel who knows what the lender needs to say yes.
05 · The plan
A plan, and the plan behind it.
No business dispute has a guaranteed outcome. So we build the primary strategy and the fallback at the same time, and you know both before anything moves.
PrimaryFallback
01
The first conversation.
Tell us what's happening, what's at stake, and what you need the business to look like when it's over. We listen before we advise.
[PLACEHOLDER: consultation terms: length, cost, in person, phone or video]
02
Two plans, side by side.
A primary strategy and a fallback, so one setback never leaves you without a next step.
03
Partner-led, start to finish.
The partners you meet run the matter: negotiation, drafting, court. We move early, while your options are still open.
01
The first conversation.
Tell us what's happening, what's at stake, and what you need the business to look like when it's over. We listen before we advise.
[PLACEHOLDER: consultation terms: length, cost, in person, phone or video]
02
Two plans, side by side.
A primary strategy and a fallback, so one setback never leaves you without a next step.
03
Partner-led, start to finish.
The partners you meet run the matter: negotiation, drafting, court. We move early, while your options are still open.
Schedule a consultation
Or call 312-489-8174.
06 · The record
The record.
Experience measured in years, courts and published decisions, not adjectives.
- Nearly 70
- years of combined practice
- 1984
- Greg Jordan admitted to practice
- 7th Cir.
- Published decisions: In re Greenig (1998) · Hovde v. ISLA Development, LLC (2022)
- 5 years
- Super Lawyers® selection, Gregory J. Jordan, 2022–2026
- AV
- Martindale-Hubbell AV Rating, Gregory J. Jordan [PLACEHOLDER: confirm current]
- Courts
- U.S. Supreme CourtU.S. Tax CourtSeventh Circuitfederal districts in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin
- Memberships
- American Bankruptcy InstituteCommercial Law League of AmericaAmerican Bar AssociationIllinois State Bar AssociationChicago Bar Association
- Client words
- [PLACEHOLDER: client reviews cleared for publication]
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Super Lawyers® methodology at superlawyers.com.
07 · The outcome
The goal is a company that's still yours to run.
Legal work for a business has one real measure: what the company looks like when it's over.
What clients come to us for
- A buyout agreed, documented and closed, not a fight that drains the business it's about.
- Loan terms the company can meet, negotiated before enforcement starts.
- A contract that answers the question before anyone has to ask a judge.
- An exit on your timeline, not your partner's.
08 · Consultation
Tell us what's happening.
A few sentences is enough. A partner will respond [PLACEHOLDER: response time].
- Office
- 350 North LaSalle Street
Suite 700
Chicago, IL 60654 - Phone
- 312-489-8174
- Hours
- [PLACEHOLDER: office hours]
- Directions
- Map & directions
- Service area
- Serving Chicago, Illinois and Indiana.