John founded Kabealo PLLC in 2018 out of a desire to bring top-tier national security regulatory experience to a broader set of clients. John began his career as a Mergers and Acquisitions attorney in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, where he gained a strong foundation in corporate and transactional matters. After four years, John transferred to Skadden’s Washington office to join its recently formed national security group, where he spent the next seven years exclusively focused on national security regulatory reviews. He is one of only a handful of attorneys in the world who has focused exclusively on these matters. He understands the national security regulatory landscape, and his roots as a corporate attorney enable him to efficiently solve those issues in the transactional setting.
John was included as one of the world’s top CFIUS experts by Chambers International in 2021. He is regularly quoted in leading publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Marketplace and MLex, and his founding of Kabealo Law was covered in the South China Morning Post. He has spoken at American Conference Institute conferences on export controls and classified information requirements. His articles have appeared in leading industry publications, such as The M&A Lawyer, Transaction Advisers and Law360, and he is a contributing author to American Bar Association’s forthcoming Cybersecurity Handbook.
John is a graduate of Princeton University, where he was a defensive back for the Princeton Tigers football team. He attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was the Editor in Chief of the Virginia Law Weekly, and where he met his wife, Sarah. They live in Leesburg, Virginia with their three children.