Business

December is always an exciting month for entrepreneurial law attorneys.  Most years December is my top month for merger and acquisition deals, private placement offerings and other business collaboration transactions.  This past week my firm closed two multi-million dollar acquisitions, one venture capital transaction, and no less than five significant software licensing deals for our clients.  We also brought in three more acquisition deals to finalize before the end of the month.  This is fun stuff!

Following the closing of one the acquisition deals (which was handled primarily by Sam Schmutte and Janet Croswell of Alerding Castor - great work guys!), our client gave me about the best compliment a client can offer.  He told me that my firm was great to work with every step along the way in this deal; that we gave him a clear assesment of the risks at each step, allowing him to make informed business decisions; and ultimately, we got the deal that he wanted done.

As I stated in a previous blog post entitled The Art of Partnering, every entrepreneur should read Chapter 8 of The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki.  He does a nice job of capturing the benefits of "partnering" with clients.  He also captures what I consider key in engaging legal counsel to assist you in realizing your business goals.  He states:

"...find a lawyer who genuinely wants to do deals, not prevent them, and set the right legal framework.  Many lawyers view their role as the "adult supervision" that will prevent stupid deals from taking place.  However, their bias is often that a deal is bad until proven good.  Avoid this kind of lawyer.  Instead, find one who views his role as a problem solver and service function for you, the customer."