Brian John Hogan

I was born in Fort Dodge, IA in 1957,  attending local private schools through high school.   I graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1979, after double-majoring in Political Science and Spanish.   I received my J.D. from the Law School of the Univeristy of Chicago in 1982, followed by an M.B.A. from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1988, where I majored in Marketing.

Following my graduation from law school, I went to work for the Chicago firm of Chapman and Cutler, where I worked on corporate transactions.   After three years I movved to another Chicago firm, where I worked on corporate, bankruptcy and real estate matters.   It was at this time I first began working on corporate mergers and acquisitions. 

In 1988 I relocated to Orange County, California, taking a position with a local real estate developer building office and industrial projects in Orange County and the Inland Empire.   I worked as a project manager, supervising the details of construction and management of the building process, negotiating and drafting legal documents, working with local governments, and solving problems for our tenants.

Our portfolio eventually exceeded $100 million.    In 1993 I continued my real estate work by taking a position with American Stores Properties, Inc., finding sites for new supermarkets.

In 1993 I also passed the California State Bar exam, and in 1995 became affiliated of counsel with the Chicago firm of McBreen & Kopko, LLP as its representative in California.   In this capacity I worked on a variety of corporate, real estate, bankruptcy and estate planning/ asset protection assignments.   I even had the opportunity to participate in various litigation matters, often as local counself ro our Chicago litigation team.   Although I have never considered myself a litigator, I have won judgments amounting to over $500, on behalf of clients on several occasions.   In addition, I have served as outside general counsel to several privately held companies, handling all the duties of a traditional general counsel in such areas as litigation management, contract review and negotiation, employment matters and the representation of these companies as a corporate buyer or seller.

I formed the Hogan Law Group, P.C. in 2013 to better serve the needs of my corporate transactional clients, especailly in the field of mergers and acquisitions.   Also in that year, I represented a corporate client in a $65 million sale, which also involved intricate estate planning/asset protection work for the company's owners, both to safeguard their new wealth and to provide them a tax-efficienct way to donate a substantial portion of their net gain to charity.

Now I am working with several new clients to preapre them for coorporate purchases or sales.   This is always a detailed process, involving one or two years of advance work to make sure that the corporate structure and operations are optimized, in order for a corporate seller to achieve the optimum price,and for a corporate buyer to have the ability to not only pay for its purchase, but to smoothly integrate its operations with the new acquisition, and to accomplish its corporate purchase in a tax-efficient way.

I earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 1972.   In 1979 I was elected to Phi Beta Kappa (Episilon Chater of Indiana).

I am active in the Boy Scouts of America, Orange County Council, the Board of Trustees of the Catholic Charities of Orange County and the American Red Cross.

I have been married to the same wonderful woman for 29 years, and we have 4 exceptional children, thanks primarily to her.

WhenI am not working to serve my clients, i enjoy travel, playing tennis and basketball and competing in triathlons.  I amfluent in Spanish and can demonstrate a high level of proficiency in Russian, French, Italian and Portuguese.   I am currently studying Mandarin.