John Kabealo

John Kabealo is Senior Advisor for the CELIS Institute.

John founded Kabealo PLLC in 2018 out of a desire to bring top-tier national security regulatory experience to as broad a set of clients as possible. He spent the first 12 years of his career at Skadden, Arps, where he helped to launch the firm’s fledgling CFIUS practice.

John’s clients range from multinational institutions to small startups focused on next generation technological development. He has successfully presided over a number of the most complex transactions ever reviewed by CFIUS, and has negotiated National Security Agreements across a broad range of industries and jurisdictions.

John was included as one of the world’s top CFIUS experts by Chambers International in 2021 and every year thereafter. 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.

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.