Richard Kohn

Practice Areas

Richard M. Kohn is a founder of Goldberg Kohn and a Principal in the firm's Commercial Finance Group. He represents banks and other financial institutions in structuring and documenting credit facilities, with a focus on cross-border lending transactions, an area in which he is widely recognized as a pioneer and leading expert.

For more than 20 years, Richard has been active in the reform of secured transactions law. He was a member of the Expert Group for the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in connection with the drafting of its Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions (2007), the related Supplement on Security Rights in Intellectual Property (2010), Guide on the Implementation of a Security Rights Registry (2014), Model Law on Secured Transactions (2016) and the related Guide to Enactment (2017) and Practice Guide to the Model Law on Secured Transactions (2019). He also served as a consultant to the United Nations to co-edit UNCITRAL's "Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions." Richard is currently working on a best practices guide on enforcement for the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT).

In addition, Richard has participated in initiatives to promote secured credit in other countries. For example, in the People's Republic of China he taught asset-based lending to more than 150 bankers at the invitation of the People's Bank of China and the World Bank. In Mexico, he co-organized a roundtable discussion on the Mexican judicial system with the Mexican and U.S. governments.

Career

From 2001 to 2020, Richard served as Co-General Counsel of the Secured Finance Network (SFNet), the principal U.S. trade association for commercial lenders (formerly known as the Commercial Finance Association). During his tenure, he represented SFNet in appellate courts and other venues on issues of importance to the commercial finance industry. He is currently Vice Chair of SFNet's International Finance & Development Committee. In 2019 he was inducted into the inaugural class of the SFNet Hall of Fame.

Richard is a Lecturer in Law at The University of Chicago Law School, where he teaches cross-border lending. Additionally, he has spoken on cross-border lending and other commercial finance topics at programs sponsored by the American Bar Association, ALI CLE, The New York City Bar Association, the World Bank and the New England School of Law, among other organizations.

Publications

- "The Role of Innovation in Cross-Border Lending," Chapter 13 of The Future of Commercial Law: Ways Forward for Change and Reform, Ed. O. Akseli and J. Linarelli (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2020)

- "Current Issues in Cross-Border Asset-Based Lending: Lessons From the Field on the Need for Secured Transactions Reform," Chapter 7 of International and Comparative Secured Transactions Law: Essays in Honour of Roderick A. Macdonald, Esq., Ed. S. V. Bazinas and O. Akseli (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2017)

- "Facilitating a Cost-Free Path to Economic Recovery: Implementing a Global Uniform International Receivables Financing Law," Uniform Commercial Code Law Journal, 44 UCC L. J. 277 (2012) (with S.V. Bazinas and Louis F. Del Duca)

- "The Case for Including Directly Held Securities Within the Scope of the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions," 15 Uniform L. Rev. 413 (2010)

- "Convention to Bolster Exports and Jobs," Wash. Times, March 6, 2012

Professional Memberships

Fellow of American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers

Secured Finance Network, Vice Chair, International Finance & Development Committee

International Bar Association, Member

American Bankruptcy Institute, Member

Personal

Outside the practice of law, Richard currently serves as a member, and was past chair, of the Board of Trustees of the Brain Research Foundation, a Chicago-based charitable organization that funds pioneering neuroscience research. He is also a past chair of the Board of Directors of Chicago Shakespeare Theater and a past president of Anshe Emet Synagogue.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Illinois

United States Supreme Court

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S District Court for the Western District of Michigan

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Education

Awards