40 Under Forty 2024

KYLE SHIRES

AGE 34

FIRM Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres

LAW SCHOOL University of Illinois College of Law

AREA(S) OF PRACTICE Corporate, mergers-and-acquisitions, finance and liquidity, venture capital

2024 ILLINOIS ATTORNEYS TO WATCH

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D espite his young age, Kyle Shires has already spearheaded numerous important corporate and M&A transactions for his clients. Why? His legal mind. Kyle’s peers say that he ranks as one of the top strategists in the corporate law arena. Neil Hayes, general counsel with Crossroads.ai and previous- ly with Guaranteed Rate, worked closely with Kyle on several M&A transactions at Guaranteed Rate, including a merger, an acquisition and a joint venture that all unfolded in a roughly six- month span. Throughout those busy months, Kyle drafted and negotiated dozens of complex agreements on tight timelines, organized and managed multiple due-diligence projects, worked with dozens of internal stakeholders and successfully gained the respect of opposing counsel. "He brings a confidence and steadiness that belies his age," Hayes said. "No matter how challenging a situation, Kyle al- ways maintains a calm, can-do attitude and embraces taking on new projects and challenges, no matter how far outside his comfort zone." Hayes said that Kyle also understands that the passage of time can kill deals. Because of this, Kyle brings a sense of urgen- cy to all that he does, something that his clients appreciate. He can produce high-quality work in incredibly short periods. Throughout his career, Kyle has represented numerous large companies in big deals. Kyle has represented Aon Corporation in various high-stakes purchase and sale transactions. Kyle also represented Jones Lang LaSalle in its acquisition of HFF for approximately $2 billion and Apollo Global Management in its

He brings a confidence and steadiness that belies his age. ”

acquisition of Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited for roughly $2.6 billion. In other big deals, Kyle represented Keurig Green Mountain in its sale to a JAB Holding Company-led investor group in a transaction valued at approximately $13.9 billion. Kyle also regu- larly represents a variety of private equity firms in corporate and M&A transactions. "Kyle is hardworking, a great listener and has excellent atten- tion to detail," said Jude Baldo with Chicago's Crowe LLP. "But he has also married those attributes with high emotional intel- ligence. This allows him to deeply understand not just what the client is asking for, but what motivates and interests them." Jaz Park, president of the Korean American Bar Association, said that Kyle has steadily grown into a leader at both his firm and in the field of corporate law. "Kyle has all the transaction legal skills, but is also very prag- matic and reasonable," Park said. "He strikes the perfect balance between parsing difficult legal questions and digging into the finer points while also helping clients and others make decisions at a high-level."

40 Under Forty 2024

CHICAGO LAWYER & CHICAGO DAILY LAW BULLETIN