JOSEPH P. GROMACKI, Partner Publications · Professional Activities Chicago Office Office: (312) 923-2637 Fax: (312) 923-2737 Email: jgromacki@jenner.com  Add to Outlook Contacts

Joseph P. Gromacki is a partner in Jenner & Block’s Chicago office.  He is Chair of the Firm’s Corporate Practice and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Securities Practice.  Mr. Gromacki serves on the Firm’s governing committee, the Policy Committee, and as Co-Chair of the Firm's Diversity Committee.

Mr. Gromacki has extensive experience structuring, negotiating and managing public and private mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, public securities offerings and other highly complex transactions.  His broad base of experience includes equity and debt offerings, spin-offs, split-offs, tender offers and complex corporate recapitalizations.  He regularly counsels clients regarding corporate governance and disclosure matters and Delaware law issues and other corporate and securities law matters. 

Mr. Gromacki regularly represents General Motors in corporate and securities matters.  Most recently, he represented GM in the 2009 sale of substantially all of its assets to a newly-formed entity sponsored by the U.S. Treasury in connection with GM's voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.  He represented GM in its 2007 sale of its Allison Transmission business to The Carlyle Group and Onex Corporation for $5.6 billion.  He also represented GM in the 2003 split-off of Hughes Electronics from GM and the subsequent acquisition by News Corporation of 34% of Hughes for $6.6 billion as part of transactions valued at over $17 billion and GM’s 2004 sale of $911 million of News Corporation Preferred ADSs in an underwritten public offering.  Mr. Gromacki also represented GM in several of the world’s largest public offerings of securities, including GM’s 2003 global offering of $17.9 billion of debt securities, GM’s 2000 exchange offer of $9 billion of its Class H common stock for its $1-2/3 par value common stock and GM’s 2007 offering of $1.5 billion of convertible debt securities.  Additionally, he represented GM in the 1996 $28 billion split-off of EDS, the 1997 $27 billion restructuring of its Hughes Electronics subsidiary (including the spin-off of Hughes Defense followed by its merger with Raytheon), and the 1999 $1.7 billion initial public offering of Delphi Automotive Systems and the 1999 $9 billion spin-off of Delphi.

In 2008 and 2009, Mr. Gromacki represented General Dynamics in its $1 billion and $750 million public offerings of debt securities.  In 2007, he represented Sam Zell in an $8.2 billion going-private transaction involving the Tribune Company.  In 2006, he represented J.P. Morgan Securities in its role as financial advisor to WPS Resources in connection with WPS Resources’ $1.6 billion merger with Peoples Energy.  Mr. Gromacki represented the Chicago Board of Trade in connection with a wide variety of corporate and securities law matters, including its 2005 restructuring and demutualization into a stock, for-profit company in a transaction involving a public offering of securities to CBOT members.  He also represented CBOT Holdings (the holding company for the Chicago Board of Trade) in its $200 million initial public offering later in 2005. 

Additionally, Mr. Gromacki represented BP in connection with certain significant transactions, including the 2000 and 2001 divestitures of its Alliance refinery and related assets in transactions valued at over $1.2 billion. 

Prior to joining Jenner & Block, Mr. Gromacki was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis.  After graduating from college and prior to law school, he worked for SmithKline Beckman in Philadelphia and Brussels, where he gained experience in corporate finance and international strategic planning. 

Mr. Gromacki serves as a member of the board of trustees of Historic Deerfield, Inc.  He also serves on the boards of directors of the American Arts Society of the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Gold Coast Neighbors Association. He also serves on the Committee on European Decorative Arts and the Committee on American Art at The Art Institute of Chicago.  From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Gromacki was a member of the board of directors of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, where he also served as General Counsel on a pro bono basis. 

Mr. Gromacki was recognized by The American Lawyer as one of 2007’s Dealmaker’s of the Year for his representation of Sam Zell in the Tribune going-private transaction.  Since 2004, Chambers & Partners USA has named Mr. Gromacki one of the country’s leading lawyers in corporate and M&A law.  He has also been recognized by the Best Lawyers in America, Illinois Super Lawyers, Lawdragon Magazine and the Leading Lawyers Network, which published a profile about his career in 2007.  Please click here to view the profile.

Mr. Gromacki received a B.A. in History from Yale College in 1987.  He received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1992.  From 1992 to 1994, Mr. Gromacki served as a law clerk to the Honorable Hubert L. Will, U.S. Judge in the Northern District of Illinois.