Hope Schall was part of the Comerica legal team that won the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for M&A Transaction of the Year related to the bank’s $10.9 billion merger with Fifth Third Bank. In this Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, she discusses the traits she seeks in outside counsel, what outside counsel need to know when working with her and more.
Lawbook: Tell me a little about your family and growing up.
Hope Schall: I grew up in a very small town in rural Nebraska — my high school graduating class had 22 students. My dad was an auto mechanic and my mom worked in a pharmaceutical factory — that combination taught me that with a strong work ethic you can fix anything!
Lawbook: Any lawyers in your family?
Schall: No lawyers in my family until I came along.
Lawbook: When did the idea of being a lawyer first pop up for you?
Schall: I was on the debate team in high school and loved it. Throughout the course of a debate tournament we had to argue for an issue in one round then switch sides and argue against it in the next round. The experience taught me to see both sides and be creative about how I approach issues.
Click here to read the story of the 2025 DFW M&A Transaction of the Year as Lawbook reporters Allen Pusey and Mark Curriden provide the behind-the-scene details of how the Comerica team got the deal done.
Lawbook: What led each of you to go in-house and, separately, what led you to join Comerica?
Schall: Over the course of my career I have worked at various types of organizations (e.g., Federal Reserve, law firm, national banks, state banks, etc.) but always the financial services industry. I have found working in-house to be most rewarding because of the relationships you are able to build with your inhouse clients to help the organization achieve its goals and objectives.
Lawbook: What were one or two of the biggest challenges you have faced on the Fifth Third Bank deal and how did you overcome those challenges?
Schall: The combination of a compressed timeline and needing to maintain a high level of confidentiality.
Lawbook: What do you look for in hiring outside counsel?
Schall: Someone who is responsive and understands my needs as inhouse counsel, versus giving me what they think I need. Typically, I am engaging outside counsel because they have knowledge or expertise that I don’t have. However, I still need to be able to translate and apply that information internally — if outside counsel doesn’t listen to what I need it actually makes my job more difficult.
Lawbook: What does outside counsel need to know about working with you?
Schall: I often need to be able to reach them quickly and need an immediate response — I don’t always need the response to be formal and “full baked” but often do need to get their first impression pretty fast.
Fun Facts: Hope Schall
- Favorite music group: U2 — I am a child of the ‘80s.
- Favorite restaurant: Any restaurant that serves a good chocolate soufflé.
- Favorite beverage: Diet Coke is really the standout for me — I have tried to give it up and had no luck.
- Favorite vacation: Maybe not my favorite vacation ever, but at the end of last year I took my mom to NYC just before Christmas. I had been to NYC many times, but this was her first, so we did all of the fun tourist activities and she was thrilled. It was so great to see.
- Hero in life: My mother — I know it is a cliché, but I can’t come up with anyone more deserving.