Richard M. Kohn

Richard M. Kohn is a founder of Goldberg Kohn and a principal in the firm's Commercial Finance Group. He specializes in representing banks and other financial institutions in structuring and documenting credit facilities, with a specialty in cross-border lending. He is also Co-General Counsel of the Commercial Finance Association (the principal U.S. trade association for banks and other lenders engaged in commercial finance). Richard is a Lecturer in Law in cross-border lending at The University of Chicago Law School. Richard has been selected to the Illinois Super Lawyers list every year since 2005 and has been named by Chambers Global and Chambers U.S.  as a leading lawyer in Banking & Finance. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers.

Richard has been active in secured transactions law reform, serving as a member of the Expert Group for the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in connection with the preparation of UNCITRAL's Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions, the related Supplement on Security Rights in Intellectual Property, the Technical Legislative Guide on the Implementation of a Security Rights Registry, the Model Law on Secured Transactions and the Practice Guide to the Model Law on Secured Transactions (UNCITRAL's current project), and also serving as a consultant to the United Nations in connection with the Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions. In addition, he has participated in initiatives to promote secured credit in other countries, including the People's Republic of China (where he taught asset-based lending to over 150 Chinese bankers at the invitation of the People's Bank of China and the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) and Mexico (where he was co-organizer of a roundtable discussion with the Mexican government).

Richard writes and speaks frequently on the subject of commercial finance topics. His most recent publication is 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, Ed. S. V. Bazinas and N. Orkun Alseli, Hart Publishing (2017)). Other publications include: Facilitating a Cost-Free Path to Economic Recovery: Implementing a Global Uniform International Receivables Financing Law, 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); and Convention to Bolster Exports and Jobs, Wash. Times, March 6, 2012. Speaking engagements include presentations for the American Bar Association, ALI CLE, The New York City Bar Association, the World Bank and the New England School of Law. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Brain Research Foundation.

Richard received his law degree, cum laude, in 1969 and his B.A., with distinction, in 1966, both from The University of Michigan. He is admitted to practice in Illinois.