Top 40 distributor HALO Branded Solutions (asi/356000) has a new legal ace to help guide the company. The Sterling, IL-headquartered firm announced Monday that it has hired Nicholas P. Jakubowski as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. He will report directly to HALO CEO Marc Simon.

Jakubowski most recently was VP and Deputy Counsel at LKQ Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that provides alternative and specialty parts to repair and accessorize automobiles and other vehicles. HALO felt his skills and experience were well-suited to the increasingly dynamic enterprise the distributorship runs – a distributorship that has been aggressive in making high-profile acquisitions in recent years.

“Nick brings a wealth of experience in corporate law and M&A transactions,” said Simon. “The complexity of our business has increased. The ability to have on-staff counsel to navigate the statutory and regulatory landscape will be a tremendous added value for our customers, our account executives and our staff. His extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions will also provide our team with additional insight and support as acquisition activity continues to grow.”

For his part, Jakubowski is excited to get started. “The energetic and open culture at HALO is exactly what I was interested in finding,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to helping the HALO team grow the business and protect the best interests of HALO and its customers and account executives.”

Jakubowski holds an honors degree in economics from Northwestern University. He earned his J.D. at Vanderbilt University Law School. Before joining LKQ in 2010, he was an associate at the firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP. There, he represented private equity funds and public and private companies in a variety of matters, including debt financing and secured lending transactions, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, equity recapitalizations, securities filings, and bankruptcy.

At LKQ, Jakubowski handled a wide range of legal issues, including mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, real estate development, corporate compliance programs, general corporate governance, regulatory issues, financing transactions, and intellectual property disputes.

With reported 2017 North American promotional product revenue of $416.4 million, HALO ranks third on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry.