John A. Kober is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Business and Finance Practice. He is currently the Managing Partner of the Dallas office and the immediate past co-chair of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Practice.
Mr. Kober is a corporate tax attorney that focuses his practice on advising family businesses, management groups, ESOP companies, and private equity groups throughout the United States, with regard to succession, ownership transition, liquidity transactions, and governance. Mr. Kober is a well-known ESOP and family business attorney, having advised family businesses and private equity groups regarding the use of ESOPs, recapitalizations, and business sales in a wide variety of transactions. He also advises family business members to find solutions in family business disputes.
Mr. Kober has lectured and written extensively on private equity ESOP transactions, shareholder liquidity and ownership succession, litigation involving fiduciary ESOP and corporate board of director lawsuits, and corporate governance of ESOP and family owned companies.
Mr. Kober speaks regularly at the annual national conferences of The ESOP Association, the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA), private equity conferences, the Family Firm Institute (FFI), the Association of Corporate Growth (ACG), and at local and regional conferences sponsored by The ESOP Association. He also has made presentations for numerous other organizations, including programs sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the American Bankers Association, and State Bar Associations.
Mr. Kober is the chair of the North Texas Family Firm Institute, a past chair of the ESOP Association’s National Finance Advisory Committee, a former member of the board of directors of the NCEO, and a former member of the Technical Legislative Advisory Board dealing with ESOP S corporation legislation of ESCA.
Mr. Kober received his LL.M. in taxation from the University of Missouri in 1984, his J.D. from Washburn University in 1982, and his B.S. from Kansas State University in 1980.
Mr. Kober is admitted to practice in Texas, the District of Columbia, Nebraska, and Kansas and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
