Biography:
Stuart Heaton is a seasoned business attorney with more than 25 years of broad-based experience in domestic and international corporate law and complex transactions. His prior legal experience includes both private practice and in-house, including serving as General Counsel to a Fortune 500 corporation and a publicly traded media company. Mr. Heaton possesses extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, joint venture and strategic alliance partnerships, and asset buy/sell transactions. Having represented various companies in a variety of off-shore corporate formations, partnerships, ventures, financings, intellectual property licensing, and commercial transactions throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Mr. Heaton also has a strong background in international corporate and business law. Mr. Heaton has represented companies in the technology, aerospace, telecommunications, media, retail, and manufacturing sectors, among others.
He currently serves on the board of the Orlando chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.
Having obtained an MBA and served as a senior business executive with profit and loss responsibility for operational and strategic business segments, Mr. Heaton is uniquely well-positioned to understand the intricate legal and business needs and issues faced by businesses. To that end, he partners with his clients, develops a strong understanding of their businesses, and uses that knowledge to help clients grow and to provide client-specific advice on matters such as corporate structure, governance, finance, executive compensation, regulatory compliance, employee/labor policies, and board governance matters.
Mr. Heaton has deep operational experience, having served on the strategic planning or executive committees of three publicly held companies and having been charged with P&L authority and general management responsibility for a number of international operating segments of two of these entities. Mr. Heaton has managed in excess of 150 employees in multiple foreign offices and business segments under his management have achieved as much as $25 million in annual revenues. In addition, he has provided strategic consulting services for early stage companies and has reviewed and advised upon numerous business plans from a conceptual, operational and legal standpoint.
In addition to his deep experience in corporate and international law, Mr. Heaton brings a strong background in corporate finance. He advises clients on a variety of commercial lending transactions including revolving and term loans, bridge loans, commercial construction and permanent financing, debt securities, and government-backed financing. Mr. Heaton’s practice also focuses on strategic investments by venture capital and private equity firms. He advises clients on due diligence, entity and portfolio structuring, and transactional documentation in early round funding activities, and provides legal support for strategic exits, including buyouts, going private transactions, IPOs, LBOs, MBOs, spin-offs, split-offs, and split-ups. In addition, he works with early to mid-stage stage companies on their capital acquisition transactions ranging from angel investments through mezzanine rounds.
Mr. Heaton counsels clients on assorted commercial real estate transactions, including the acquisition and sale of domestic and offshore commercial properties. He has assisted clients with negotiating and documenting AIA agreements, development agreements, construction agreements, zoning and planning issues, and commercial leases. In addition, Mr. Heaton has acted as the developer on office and industrial parks with involvement ranging from site preparation through construction of build to suits.
Bar Admissions
- Florida, 1982
- Tennessee, 1989
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
Education
- MBA, Vanderbilt University, 1991
- JD, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 1982
- BA, California State University, Fullerton, 1979
Professional Associations and Memberships
- American Bar Association
- International Bar Association
- Orange County Bar Association
- Association for Corporate Growth, Board Member, Orlando Chapter