R.D. Yant focuses his practice on general business and financing transactions, including commercial real estate transactions, real estate financing and lease transactions, commercial and industrial lending, business sales and acquisitions, and equipment financing. R.D. obtained BS and MS degrees from Purdue University and his JD from the University of Illinois College of Law.

R.D. has authored or co-authored articles dealing with real estate and land use law and has been a speaker on matters relating to secured lending, equipment financing and railroad transactions. Prior to joining Kaplan Saunders Valente & Beninati, R.D. was a partner in the Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw and associate general counsel for an entrepreneur-owned holding company, which held interests in a variety of businesses across the country.

Some of R.D.'s recent representations include:

• Mezzanine loans and preferred equity transactions relating to acquisition or development of real estate located in California, Texas, Illinois, New York, Virginia, and the District of Columbia
• Construction loans for residential condominium and hotel projects in Illinois and Colorado
• Senior secured loans for assemblage of properties located in Midtown Manhattan
• UCC foreclosure sale of mezzanine loan positions of entity owning office buildings in Texas
• Sale of Watergate office building in Washington, DC, by preferred equity investor following taking control of ownership entity
• Restructuring debt secured by commercial real estate
• Land use issues in connection with hotel and retail developments
• Office, commercial; industrial and retail development and leasing transactions
• Cash-out merger of family-owned medical supply business into subsidiary of Fortune 500 company
• Liquidation of family-owned businesses, which included a grain possessing business, a bulk material handling business, a horticultural products business and an inland marine fleeting and switching business, with facilities located in Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and New Mexico, in a series of ten transactions.