Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Business Services

Senior Counsel and Chair Emeritus

Don Lents serves as Chair Emeritus of the firm. His practice focuses on corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and general corporate matters with particular emphasis upon responsibilities of boards of directors, multinational and domestic mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, anti-takeover planning, and related matters. He is co-author of a treatise on Missouri Corporation Law and Practice and of articles on various corporate law issues. He has been an adjunct professor at the Washington University Law School.

Mr. Lents served for a number of years as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and was the Chair of the Firm from 2004 through 2014. He previously served as head of the firm’s Transactions Practice and chair of the Corporate Department. He also was the partner in charge of the firm’s London office from its opening in 1982 through 1984.

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT & HONORS Chambers USA, Corporate/M&A (2005 - 2020) The Best Lawyers in America© (Listed since 1993, with recognition in the areas of Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Governance, Securities/Capital Markets, International Mergers & Acquisitions and International Trade and Finance) Commissioner, St. Louis Lambert International Airport Commission Chair of the Board of Directors, Greater St. Louis, Inc. Foundation Prior involvements include serving as the Chair of the Board of Directors and on the Executive Committee of Grand Center Inc, on the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Regional Chamber of Commerce (Executive Committee, Treasurer and Chair of Finance Committee), United Way of Greater St. Louis (Executive Committee), Leadership St. Louis (Chair of the Board), Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (Chair of the Board), Coro Foundation (St. Louis), Harvard Alumni Association and the National Council of the Library System of Washington University in St. Louis, among others. PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS American Bar Association (Senior Fellow) American Law Institute (Life Member)