Kurt Yost has more than 20 years of experience helping businesses of all sizes, public and private, achieve their business goals and objectives.

Kurt specializes in business, corporate and commercial law with an emphasis on commercial and business transactions. He serves clients engaged in a wide variety of business activities, including manufacturing, business and financial services, distribution, and retail in a number of different industries including pharmaceutical, medical device, automotive and office furniture.

Kurt has extensive experience structuring, negotiating, documenting and closing a broad range of business, purchase, divestiture, joint venture, financing, investment and other business combination and separation transactions on behalf of buyers, sellers, investors, issuers, borrowers and lenders. He has handled, as lead legal counsel, numerous multi-million dollar merger and acquisition transactions, venture capital and private equity investment transactions, financing transactions, and management and other leveraged buy-outs.

A substantial part of his practice consists of representing clients in a broad range of commercial transactions that are the heart of their business activities including the development, manufacture, sale and distribution of products, global sourcing of materials and services, formation and operation of joint ventures and strategic alliances, and licensing and protection of intellectual property.

Kurt regularly provides general business counseling on a wide range of matters including strategic business planning, entity formation, duties of directors and officers, agreements among co-owners, succession planning, executive compensation, and relationships with customers, suppliers, lenders, employees, strategic partners and other third parties.

He is chair of our Corporate Client Service Team and chair of our Business Practice Group.

Kurt received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Albion College and his law degree from the University of Michigan. He also is a Certified Public Accountant.

Kurt is active in the community and many charitable causes. He is a director and past President of the John Ball Zoological Society, a former President of the Inner City Christian Federation Non-Profit Housing Corporation, and member of the West Michigan Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.