Burgos, Kara M.

John Burgess is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group and co-chair of the International Transactions Group. He joined the firm in 1976. Mr. Burgess is a former member of the firm's Management and Executive Committees and co-chair of Hale and Dorr's Corporate Department.

Practice

Mr. Burgess focuses on securities law, including public and private securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, licensing and strategic partnerships, as well as a range of international matters, including public and private placements for overseas issuers, inward and outward bound acquisition transactions, and distribution and licensing arrangements. His clients include companies engaged in a wide range of technology sectors such as telecommunications equipment, networking systems, Internet infrastructure, semiconductor design and manufacture, and advanced software systems and applications products.

Mr. Burgess's experience includes representation of both US and foreign issuers on more than one hundred IPOs and follow-on offerings. He also has extensive experience in concurrent Regulation S/Rule 144A offerings and other private placement transactions. Mr. Burgess regularly represents clients in connection with the acquisition of public and private targets, or implementation of strategic relationships, ranging in value from $10 million to more than $5 billion. He also has extensive experience in the organization and operation of collaborative research and development organizations both domestically and internationally.

Mr. Burgess is a registered foreign lawyer under the rules of The Law Society of the United Kingdom.

Recent Highlights

• Initial Public Offering by SS&C 
• €1 billion rights offering by Infineon AG
• Underwriter's counsel, Initial Public Offering of Virtusa, Inc.
• Follow-on offering of Bottomline Technologies
• $1 billion leveraged buyout of SS&C by Carlyle Group and related $250 million note placement
• $1.9 billion leveraged buyout of Kronos by Hellman & Friedman
• $1.7 billion invested by Silver Lake in Skype Technologies S.A.
• Cross border tender offers, including SS&C's acquisition of Financial Models, an Ontario company, for $160 million and Kronos' acquisition of Unicru, a British Columbia company, for $150 million
• Sale of WiderThan, Ltd., a Korean company, to RealNetworks, Inc. for $350 million
• Sale of Arlington Tankers, a Bermuda company, to General Maritime for $870 million
• Joint Venture between MIT and Government of Singapore
• Establishment of Broad Institute by MIT and Harvard University

Professional Activities

Mr. Burgess is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an adjunct professor of international law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a life member of the United States Naval Institute. He is a former chairman of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and trustee of the Roxbury Latin School. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Boston Bar Association.

Honors and Awards

• Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2006-2012, in the areas of international trade and finance, M&A and securities/capital markets law
• Listed as a leading lawyer in IT by the Legal Media Group in their Expert Guides, Guide to the World's Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers 3rd Edition
• Named a "New England Super Lawyer" (formerly "Massachusetts Super Lawyer") in the 2004-2011 issues of Boston Magazine
• Named one of the top five IPO lawyers in the US in 2000 by IPO Reporter

Speaking Engagements

• National Association of College and University Attorneys – "Creative Structures for Joint Research and Education" – Vancouver, B.C. – June 2004
• ABA Connect – "Legal Issues Arising Out of Sarbanes-Oxley" – Moderator – December 2, 2003
• KPMG Audit Committee Institute – Boston – Participant – 2007, 2004, 2003 and 2002