The Genesis Business Humanity (BH) Club is proud to spotlight Aaron Hammer, an active and distinguished Genesis Board Executive and Genesis Club Member with a background as a highly respected attorney in bankruptcies, turnarounds, and workouts.

With a career already recognized with many industry honors, Aaron is one of the leading corporate restructuring lawyers in the United States, having garnered national recognition as an elite corporate restructuring attorney devoted to solving his client’s most challenging insolvency and creditors’ rights issues for over almost thirty years.

Aaron’s path began with a B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan; a J.D, from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law followed. Aaron would go on to graduate with Magna Cum Laude honors before then being hired as adjunct law professor at the age of 25, the youngest in Northwestern’s School of Law 165-year history.

Concurrent with his adjunct teaching, where he revolutionized the insolvency curriculum by developing three new insolvency classes, Aaron began his legal career as an associate at Mayer Brown LLP. At this global institution, Aaron led the legal team representing the debtor in the complex Chapter 11 proceedings of Lason, Inc. in Delaware, concluding the matter by successfully reorganizing a $200 million annual revenue multinational business in May 2002.

Shortly thereafter, Aaron accepted a position as an equity partner at AmLaw 200 firm Freeborn & Peters LLP, where he would reside for the next seven years and build and lead the firm’s national insolvency practice.

In 2011, Aaron joined Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Hammer LLP as a name partner, leading the firm as chairman of its executive committee and chairman of its bankruptcy, reorganization, and creditor’s rights practice group. Aaron’s then-current firm combined with global AmLaw 100 firm Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton LLP (KTS) in March 2024, and he became a shareholder in its national Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring practice group.

For nearly thirty years now, Aaron has led major engagements on behalf of corporate borrowers, lenders, financiers, and, most notably, bankruptcy committees in hundreds of significant bankruptcies and workouts across the country and in many foreign countries, and he’s not done yet. His most recognizable clients have included Bank of America, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Accenture LLP, Sysco Corporation, AT&T, and many other global and midmarket corporates.

In 2015, Aaron served as President of the Turnaround Management Association’s (TMA) Chicago/Midwest Chapter. He continues to champion the chapter’s Executive Speaker Forum (ESF), leading initiatives dedicated to the corporate turnaround community locally and globally.

Aaron is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and served for five years on YPO Chicagoland’s board of directors and as its membership officer. In this role, Aaron helped identify future business leaders destined to impact organizations and communities, doubling the chapter’s membership ranks.

In 2018, Aaron led the turnaround of one of America’s top steakhouses, RED, the Steakhouse in Miami Beach, preserving this institution and saving 80 jobs. Aaron and his team were awarded the TMA’s Small Business Turnaround of the Year for this achievement. Aaron currently manages RED’s restaurant operations, business development, and strategy and is an active investor and partner in numerous other restaurants and hospitality concepts, including Chicago, Smyth, a three-star Michelin gem and one of the world’s very best restaurants.

With a unique ability to combine strict legal advice with business-oriented solutions, Aaron is known for his ability to cut through the noise, using an analytical approach to make it easier to weigh the merits of any business situation and quickly reach the most efficient solution.

Aaron has been described as a dealmaker and consensus builder who develops loyalty among colleagues and clients by all those he’s worked with throughout his career. This recognition has culminated in Aaron’s founding and leadership of Deal Symposium Company and its Midmarket Deal Makers Symposium, bringing scores of top dealmakers from around the world to South Florida for professional learning, networking, and team-building activities. As one of Genesis BH Club’s initial supporters, we are thrilled to share Aaron’s remarkable story as he continues to make a difference for his clients and enterprises of all sizes and industries as a truly outstanding attorney and distinguished business leader.