Since 1998, Jennifer Durham King has worked as a full-time attorney at the Chicago-based firm Vedder Price P.C., starting as an associate, then shareholder and eventually taking on the role of Co-Chair of the firm’s Capital Markets and Securities Practice Group. With nearly 25 years of legal experience, King currently serves as the Chair of Vedder Price’s corporate practice area as well as a member of its Board of Directors.
Additionally, King counsels and advises clients on a broad range of transactions, from public and private debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions as well as capital planning and formation. Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2022 for Banking and Finance Law, King is currently being honored as “Lawyer of the Year” for Financial Services Regulation Law in Chicago for 2023.
Of her award and legal experience, King stated: “I don’t believe that it’s any one specific accomplishment, client win or engagement that resulted in me and my practice being highlighted this year, but rather a long-term approach to seeking excellence in every client service we provide. Being a good legal and business partner with my clients is really what I believe this recognition is about. I am very humbled by it. I am most rewarded in having the ability to help my clients grow their business, make a change or facilitate making a difference with their own clients. It’s really a matter of client service, as well as continuing to be challenged by new legal developments, insights and evolving ways to show my corporate clients how the laws can help rather than impede their business and progress.
“I think being able to balance staying on top of the everchanging landscape of the law and legal developments in my practice area with client needs and demands as well as personal and professional development is challenging. Every lawyer faces it—things need to ebb and flow over the course of many years for it to all work out so you feel you’ve paid attention to the things that matter—it’s a long-term perspective. I’d like to think that being a great attorney is listening first and talking later. It’s more of an individual’s willingness to be surrounded by a fantastic team, comprised of different perspectives, and that may often times be much smarter than you!”
Legal experience aside, when King isn’t advising clients on a variety of financial matters, she’s making significant strides for women in the nonprofit sector. In 2019, King acted as one of the initial directors of the board of Bank on Women, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the community banking industry on the importance of women’s inclusion in both a board and C-suite setting while also continuing to develop, promote and advocate for women leaders in banking.
Concluded King: “Bank on Women seeks to accomplish this goal in multiple ways, including hosting and participating in events and maintaining a database of qualified top-notch experienced female board and executive management candidates. We recently hosted our annual symposium featuring the Acting Comptroller of the Currency as our keynote speaker, as well as some very innovative bank CEOs. Since my practice focuses on financial institutions, this was a great opportunity to bring together clients and industry leaders with regulators from DC and others on the forefront of innovation in banking. Not only was it a way to support Bank on Women, but it provided a valuable opportunity to highlight the Vedder Price brand and our banking practice. It was a great event and a very recent highlight for me both professionally and personally.”
