Overview

Joseph has more than 15 years of experience advising financial institutions on corporate, securities, and regulatory matters. Joseph uses a practical and efficient approach to help clients achieve their goals and has successfully completed over 100 M&A and capital market transactions. He focuses his practice on the financial services industry and actively serves as outside corporate counsel for more than 25 banks.

Joseph is the Capital Markets and M&A Leader in BFKN's Financial Institutions Group. He regularly represents public and private banks and bank holding companies in connection with mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt offerings, and other strategic corporate actions. He is a frequent speaker on corporate and regulatory matters affecting financial institutions at industry conferences and trade association meetings.

Joseph currently works out of BFKN’s Chicago and Minneapolis offices, and is the partner-in-charge of developing and expanding BFKN’s Financial Institutions Practice in the upper Midwest region.

Credentials

Admissions

  • State of Illinois
  • State of Minnesota
  • State of California (inactive)

Education

  • University of Chicago Law School, J.D., with honors, 2004
  • Carleton College, B.A., magna cum laude with academic distinction, 1999

Experience

M&A Transactions

  • Represented First Miami Bancorp, Inc. in the agreement and plan of merger of First Miami Bancorp, Inc. into United Community Banks, Inc. (Nasdaq: UCBI).
  • Represented First Resource Bank in its Acquisition of Lake Area Bank.
  • Represented Alerus Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: ALRS) in its acquisition of MPB BHC, Inc. at approx. $85.3 million.
  • Represented Vantage Financial in its sale to Peoples Bank.
  • Represented KS StateBank in its Sale of Mortgage Division to Armed Forces Bank, N.A.
  • Represented Heartland Financial USA, Inc. in the sale of its consumer finance subsidiaries Citizens Finance Co. and Citizens Finance of Illinois Co., and the completed sale of their existing loan portfolios to American Credit Acceptance, LLC.
  • Represented USAmeriBancorp, Inc. (OTC Pink: USAB), in its merger with Valley National Bancorp (NYSE: VLY).
  • Represented Gateway Banc Corp. in its definitive merger agreement with McLaughlin Holding Company.
  • Represented Dieterich Bank of Effingham, Illinois, in its acquisition of five Illinois branches of First Bank, St. Louis, Missouri. 
  • Represented Anchor Bancorp, Inc. in its sale to Old National Bancorp (Nasdaq: ONB).

Capital Raising Transactions

  • Represented Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: BWB) in its $30 million Subordinated Notes Offering.
  • Represented Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: BWB) in its $50 million Private Placement of Subordinated Notes.
  • Issuer’s counsel for the $69.1 million initial public offering of Alerus Financial Corporation (ALRS/Nasdaq), a financial holding company headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
  • Represented Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: BWB) in its initial public offering.

Securities Regulation & Compliance for Publicly-Traded Bank Holding Companies

  • Represent multiple publicly-traded bank holding companies in structuring transactions, conducting due diligence, drafting disclosure documents, coordinating the filing of documents with the SEC, preparing applications to national exchanges, and provide counseling to ensure compliance with all applicable federal and state securities laws.

Newsroom

News

Publications

Organizations

  • Adjunct Professor, Securities Law Graduate Program in Financial Services Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law (2008-2012)
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