M&A Experts: Even Corporate Deals Involve Emotions

© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.By Mark Curriden, JD Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook (October 9) – There are two kinds of M&A lawyers, Jeff Chapman told a journalist in 2009: “There are those who will tell you they are doing little to no work and there are those who are lying.” Chapman and two other sages of the corporate transaction bar, brought together by the Dallas Bar Association to share their professional experiences with younger M&A lawyers, said Tuesday that the deal market is better but has not come close to returning to pre-recession levels. “The economy is weaker than many of us think,” said Chapman, an M&A partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher who recently represented MetroPCS in its multi-billion dollar sale to T-Mobile. “But M&A is very unpredictable. It could change at any moment.” Haynes and Boone corporate partner Janice Sharry, who has practiced law for 37 years, agreed. “This cycle has been hard for everyone,” said Sharry. “The M&A market surprises us. If you brought up private equity 20 years ago, people in this room would have said, ‘what?’” Glenn West, the managing partner of Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ Texas operations, warns lawyers to not get…