John M. Jennings is a partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in the Greenville office. Mr. Jennings practices in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, public company reporting, executive compensation and corporate governance.  He is admitted to the South Carolina Bar, the North Carolina Bar, and Illinois State Bar.

Mr. Jennings represents issuers, underwriters and placement agents in public and private securities offerings.  Mr. Jennings has represented clients in initial public offerings, PIPE transactions, shelf take-downs and other follow-on offerings.  He also advises companies and their constituents regarding banking regulatory, fiduciary duty and corporate governance issues, proxy contests, periodic disclosure and other securities law issues, including Regulations 13D and 13G, Section 16 and Rule 144 matters.

Mr. Jennings’ experience includes public and private purchases and sales of businesses in various industries.  Mr. Jennings has advised clients with respect to bank mergers and acquisitions, including FDIC-assisted transactions.  Mr. Jennings has also advised companies regarding takeover preparedness and prepared shareholder rights agreements.

Mr. Jennings has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America since 2009. He is recognized in Chambers USA 2011 for his work in corporate law and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Jennings is a member of the South Carolina Bar's Corporate, Banking & Securities Law Section Council.  He is also a member of the M&A Market Trends Subcommittee of the Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions of the American Bar Association’s Section of Business Law, which produces the Strategic Buyer/Public Target Mergers & Acquisitions Deal Points Study.

In 1997, Mr. Jennings earned a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law.  While in law school, he was named to the Order of the Coif and served as articles editor of the Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business.  Mr. Jennings also earned a Masters in Business Administration degree, with distinction, in 1997, from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.  As an undergraduate he was an Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia, from which he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1988.  Mr. Jennings was a partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP before joining Nelson Mullins in 2006.