Jack A. Donenfeld

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Jack A. Donenfeld has been practicing law for over 40 years.  He and the lawyers and other professionals with whom he collaborates have diverse backgrounds that provide a unique approach to legal matters.  In addition to their legal skills, they draw on their experience in investing in businesses and real estate and working in public and private businesses and in government to bring particularly broad and knowledgeable perspectives to matters.  This wealth of professional and business experience allows the firm to identify and resolve issues before they become obstacles and to provide truly strategic counsel throughout the course of an engagement.

In addition to working with individuals and companies, Jack Donenfeld regularly advises other lawyers and law firms in connection with claims of legal malpractice and “repairing” mishandled transactions and lawyer-client relationships.  He has been engaged as an advisor and expert witness in litigation involving fiduciary duties, securities law claims and securities broker-dealer due diligence standards and has provided expert opinions in business valuation matters in connection with divorces and the purchase of corporate stock and limited liability company interests pursuant to buy-sell agreements.

Among other affiliations and activities, Jack A. Donenfeld:

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  • together with the firm, has been awarded the “AV” rating by Martindale-Hubbell® Lexis-Nexis®, the highest and most prestigious rating awarded to lawyers for professional expertise and adherence to legal ethics.  The rating is conferred based on confidential questionnaires and personal interviews with members of the Bar and the Judiciary.

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  • together with the firm, has been selected for listing in The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers™, the definitive guide to the most distinguished law firms in America.  For over 90 years, the Bar Register has been America’s most exclusive directory of lawyers, listing only the legal community's most eminent professionals from the select law practices that have earned the highest (AV) rating from Martindale-Hubbell and have been designated by their colleagues as preeminent in their field.  Jack Donenfeld is listed for his work in securities law.
  • is a member of the Thomson Reuters Expert Witness Services, a service that “connects top litigators to preeminent expert witnesses.”  Donenfeld offers his services as an expert witness in litigation involving securities and corporate law matters.  For example, he served as an expert witness for one of the largest national law firms in connection with ethics, professional misconduct and legal malpractice claims involving a firm partner’s personal participation in a client’s real estate, intellectual property and business and technology development activities over many years and the significant losses that the client claimed to have suffered relating to the lawyer’s malpractice, professional misconduct and breach of ethical duties. 
  • negotiated financing, drafted business agreements, raised capital for and invested in several business and real estate projects outside of the United States, including projects in the Bahamas, Russia, Ukraine and Nicaragua,
  • co-invested with the World Bank in (and served as an officer and director of a Forest Stewardship Council® certified hardwood timber-growing, logging, processing and product manufacturing business in Central America, based in Managua, Nicaragua,
  • invested and developed U.S. real estate projects ranging from resort area home building, to reuse of surplus railroad lands, to fractional ownership condominiums.  He assembled and sold the last large developable tract of land on the Ohio River facing Cincinnati, Ohio, along with an innovative condominium development concept for that land,
  • was a Founding Member of the Real Estate Investment Association® (REIA), based in Chicago, Illinois, for which he served as President and currently serves as a Director at Large. REIA awarded him its Real Estate Fellow designation, and REIA’s predecessor organization, the Real Estate Securities and Syndication Institute, a National Association of Realtors® affiliate, awarded him its Specialist in Real Estate Securities designation,  
  • served as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Real Estate Law at the University of Cincinnati College Of Business Administration and as Advisor to its real estate fraternity,
  • served as the Director of the University of Cincinnati’s Real Estate Roundtable, which hosts a monthly breakfast meeting real estate investors, lenders, appraisers, developers and other professionals and confers and annual Distinguished Real Estate Service Award,
  • is a co-author of Instant Asset Protection, Safeguard Your Wealth Now to Protect Your Lifestyle Later,
  • has been a member of the Ohio, District of Columbia and American Bar Associations since 1976 and has served on various committees of these associations, as well as committees of the Cincinnati Bar Association,
  • has spoken at legal seminars on start-up company legal issues, securities registration, trust planning and wealth preservation matters and has acted as a moderator for panel discussions about local and national real estate markets for REIA and other professional groups nationally,
  • served as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Cincinnati Ballet,
  • earned a B.A. (Economics) from Northwestern University in 1973 and a J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1976,
  • participated in the Programs of Instruction for Lawyers in Negotiation at Harvard Law School in 1981 and 1988, 
  • has been a Registered Investment Adviser and holds a Series 63 securities license based on examination by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and
  • is admitted to the Bars of the States of Colorado and Ohio, the District of Columbia and the United States Supreme Court.

Martindale Hubbell® Listing for Jack A. Donenfeld

Admitted: 1976, Ohio; 1977, District of Columbia; 1983, 2014, Colorado; U.S. Supreme Court; 1987, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio

Law School: Boston College, J.D.

Bar Association Memberships: Colorado, Boulder, Cincinnati, Ohio, District of Columbia and American Bar Associations.

Biography: Harvard Law School Program of Instruction for Lawyers, 1981, 1988. Legal Intern, Office of the Attorney General of the State of Massachusetts, 1976. Member, Registration and Exemption Advisory Committee, Ohio Division of Securities, 1988—. Member, 1983— and Director, 1985-1986, University of Cincinnati Real Estate Roundtable. Adjunct Associate Professor of Real Estate Law, University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration, 1983—. Member, 1985— and President, 1993-1994, Real Estate Investment Association (formerly known as the Real Estate Securities and Syndication Institute). Arbitrator, Securities and Exchange Commission vs. Prudential Securities Incorporated, C.A. No. 93-2164 (HHG), D.D.C. Registered Investment Advisor, Ohio, 2001—. Co-Author, "Instant Asset Protection, Safeguard Your Wealth Now to Protect Your Lifestyle Later."

Born: Dayton, Ohio, October 9, 1951

Languages: French

Agencies: Securities and Exchange Commission