© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.
Finalist for GC of the Year for a Mid-sized Legal Dept.
By Mark Curriden
(Jan. 18) – David Monk was a junior in high school when he took a professional aptitude test.
“I showed promise in a lot of areas, but the one thing they told me that I should never, ever do is become a lawyer,” Monk says. “They suggested architecture or engineering. I ended up doing exactly what I always wanted to do.”
Monk became the drummer for a rock band. He has another job, too, as chief legal officer and executive vice president of Richardson-based RealPage, a leading global provider of software and data analytics to the real estate industry, serving 11,500 clients worldwide from offices in North America, Europe and Asia.
A corporate lawyer by training, Monk has guided the company through more than 30 corporate acquisitions since he joined RealPage in 2010, including five in 2017. He has seen his legal department grow from four lawyers seven years ago to a 30-member legal and compliance group across the U.S., India and the Philippines.
RealPage’s growth has been both organic and through acquisitions.
“We’ve done a variety of large deals and smaller deals,” he says. “Sometimes the smaller deals can be the most complex to close or integrate, especially in highly-regulated industries or when the entrepreneur is the seller.”
Monk has been announced as a finalist for General Counsel of the Year for a Mid-sized Legal Department in the 2017 Outstanding General Counsel Awards. The Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and The Texas Lawbook will honor the finalists and announce the winners at the awards ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Bush Institute.
“David is the consummate transactional lawyer and general counsel,” says Baker Botts partner Don McDermett, who nominated Monk for the award. “David has evolved into a great boardroom and CEO counselor.”
Monk grew up in Shreveport. His father was a commercial banker. His mother taught English. There were no lawyers in the family, though he was impressed when the father of a close friend argued a case at the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Growing up, I always admired people who made things happen, and lawyers seemed to make things happen,” he says.
Monk tried several vocations along the way to his current profession. His first job involved landscaping, roofing and maintenance for a multi-family property management company.
“Working out in the Louisiana summer heat led me to conclude that I really wanted a job with air conditioning,” he says.
Monk helped pay his way through college and law school as a drummer in a rock band with some friends. He has continued to play semi-professionally. Some of his band mates include partners at Dallas law firms and in government service. One of the groups, Flashcube, has played a few Dallas Bar Association events.
After getting a finance degree from Texas A&M and a law degree at the SMU Dedman School of Law, Monk joined the corporate department at Baker Botts in Dallas in 1992. He became a partner in 2001.
“At that stage of my career, Baker Botts was the perfect place because I could practice New York-quality corporate law but still live in Dallas,” he says.
Over 17 years, Monk specialized in M&A, securities offerings and high-stakes technology outsourcing transactions. As a mid-level associate, he was part of the Baker Botts team that represented EDS in its complex split-off from General Motors.
“That deal took up a couple years of my life,” he says.
In 2003, Monk represented a smaller, fast-growing company called RealPage in its first rounds of venture capital raising. He joined the company seven years later as deputy GC when it was preparing for its IPO.
“David is excellent at explaining complex legal issues so that it is easy for business executives to understand and make the appropriate decisions,” McDermett says. “David is a calming influence, even when delivering difficult or bad news to executives. He is one of the most unflappable lawyers I’ve met, even in the most fast-paced and stressful situations.”
RealPage CEO Steve Winn said Monk is “a huge asset” to the company when he promoted the lawyer to the position of chief legal officer and corporate secretary in 2015.
“David’s deep insight, strategic thinking and resolute legal support will be invaluable, especially as we continue to pursue our rapid growth strategy,” Winn said in 2015.
Monk and his team were involved in five significant acquisitions in 2017. One $300 million acquisition required his team to navigate a challenging Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust review with the U.S. Justice Department.
Monk also led the legal effort in a $345 million convertible notes offering, demonstrating his ability to adroitly lead and marshal resources from both internal and external legal teams to achieve outstanding results. RealPage’s market capitalization has more than doubled to $3.8 billion during Monk’s tenure as CLO.
“For fast growing companies such as RealPage, the general counsel really needs to approach the job from a business perspective,” Monk says. “There are still significant challenges that companies like RealPage must face on an ongoing basis, including regulatory changes and cybersecurity, which is on everyone’s mind.
“At the end of the day, my number one challenge is to provide the legal support for the growth of a fast-growing, entrepreneurial company that is often in the public eye,” he says. “I have loved the work.”
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