© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden (November 17) – Gibson Dunn Global M&A Practice Group Co-Chair Jeff Chapman represented MetroPCS in its $32 billion merger with T-Mobile and 7-Eleven in its $2.5 billion bid for Casey’s General Store. He led Concentra’s $790 million sale to Humana and BI-LO’s $560 million acquisition of Winn Dixie.
He’s currently representing French pharmaceutical company Virbac in its efforts to acquire Eli Lilly’s veterinary assets.
He’s helped companies such as EXCO Resources, Del Frisco’s, Sterling Commerce and Microtune raise billions of dollars through initial public offerings and through private placement of preferred stocks.
The legal rankings, including Chambers, say Chapman is one of the 50 best M&A lawyers in all the land. The American Lawyer and Texas Lawyer have named him “Dealmaker of the Month” for various major transactions. Lawyers who worked with and across the table from Chapman say he has one of the brightest minds in business law.
“Even under the most stressful or pressure-filled circumstances, Jeff is completely calm at all times,” says Josiah Daniel, a long-time friend who worked with Chapman for a dozen years at Vinson & Elkins. “Jeff never gets flapped. And he’s always thinking ahead to the next step and trying to find solutions.”
But this week, Chapman will be recognized for what is in his heart.
The Anti-Defamation League will honor Chapman on Friday with the Larry Schoenbrun Jurisprudence Award.
Chapman, according to friends and colleagues, is a major supporter of Vogel Alcove, a center that works with homeless children under five years old. He has served on the boards of the Dallas Holocaust Museum, Dallas Citizens Council and the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce.
Last year, he donated $100,000 to UT Southwestern Medical Center for the construction of William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital. The gift was made in honor of Chapman’s wife, Sheila, who died in 2013 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“Jeff is one of the most kind-hearted people I know,” says Rick Lacher, who is managing director of the investment firm Houlihan Lokey and has worked on several major deals with Chapman. “I don’t know anyone else who would give up a kidney to a friend.”
In full disclosure, I worked with Chapman at V&E. He was probably the single biggest influence convincing me to leave the Dallas Morning News in 2002 to go to a large law firm.
I remember the day he told me he was donating a kidney.
“He’s a good friend,” Chapman told me, referring to the recipient.
No, I thought to myself, you are the damn good friend.
The one thing I always appreciated about Chapman was his pure honesty. In 2009, he told a journalist during the height of the recession that there were two kinds of M&A lawyers.
”There are those who tell you they are doing little to no work and those who are lying,” Chapman said.
Born in Des Moines, Chapman went to the University of Iowa where he received his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1979. Four years later, he received his law degree from Harvard. But let there be no doubt, he is a Hawkeye’s fan.
“Jeff is a fantastic lawyer and his clients love him,” says Lacher. “He understands the complexities of mergers and acquisitions. He understands that winning every single point is not what is most important. Finding solutions and doing deals that are in the client’s best interest – that is what makes Jeff a great lawyer.”
Mark Stachiw, the former general counsel at MetroPCS, says Chapman demonstrated great professionalism and dignity in 2012 and 2013 when he led the $32 billion MetroPCS deal with T-Mobile.
“I had the choice of hiring any lawyer and firm I wanted because this was such a significant deal, but Jeff was the best lawyer for the job,” says Stachiw, who is now the general counsel and managing partner at NxGen Partners. “Jeff built a great team of lawyers around him and that was equally as important and it became important to our transaction.
“As our deal was moving toward closing, Sheila passed away,” he says. “That was when I saw that he had his priorities right, because he put his family first. He still did a great job on our deal with T-Mobile, but because we knew and respected Jeff so much, we understood that he needed to be away and not involved in every detail.
“Jeff is very deserving of this honor,” Stachiw says.
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