Holland & Knight recently recruited David Allen, who was managing partner of Troutman Pepper’s 60-lawyer Orange County office, to relocate and join its corporate practice in Dallas.
Though Allen was in negotiations with Holland & Knight before the firm’s merger with Thompson & Knight was announced, he said the combination is a welcome “bonus” to him and “significantly increases our profile in the Texas marketplace.”
Allen’s deal practice has a particular focus on life sciences, but he also has represented clients in the real estate, semiconductor, technology, hotel and gaming industries.
The Texas Lawbook connected with Allen about his move to Dallas and what kinds of deals he is seeing in the life sciences sector.
The Lawbook: What precipitated the move to Dallas?
Allen: Dallas was attractive to me as a fast-growing, diversified business market in a state that is known for its business-friendly economy. As a transactional lawyer who represents companies at all stages of the corporate lifecycle, being in a market that is attracting companies from around the country (and the world) creates significant opportunities to expand my practice over time.
On a more personal level, my family and I are excited by the lifestyle opportunities, culture, and most of all, the friendliness of the people we have met in the DFW area.
The Lawbook: What are one or two of the most interesting deals you have handled in the past year?
Allen: In the past year, the U.S. deal market has been intensely busy. I have been fortunate to work on a variety of strategically important matters for my clients, including the representation of a large medical device company in several acquisitions and strategic investments in targets that have interesting complementary technologies.
The Lawbook: What are the trends or interesting developments you are seeing in the life sciences space?
Allen: We continue to see a very high level of transactional activity, and a wide range of deal structures.
In addition to traditional acquisitions and licensing transactions, life science companies are using creative alternative deal structures that allow buyers and sellers to share the risks and rewards of the product development cycle. Examples of such structures include strategic equity investments in promising early-stage companies and “option” deals, in which a buyer obtains an option to purchase a target company at a later date (often subject to clinical or other milestone achievements) in exchange for a meaningful up-front payment.
As a corporate lawyer, I recognize the value of these structures in allowing the parties to better tailor their transactions to maximize the possibility of a “win-win” outcome, which is always the ultimate goal.