Organizations and Transactions Clinic class sessions are designed to orient students to big firm corporate practice, including discussion of mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, licensing, employment, and transaction management. In one Autumn 2016 class session, O&T welcomed guest speakers Alex Haskell and Chris Gorman to discuss planning, management, and execution of M&A transactions. Alex is an associate at Cooley LLP in San Francisco and Chris is an associate at Fenwick & West LLP in Mountain View, California. Alex and Chris’s practices focus on M&A, where they represent both buyers and sellers in the technology, life sciences, and other industries.

During the class session, Alex and Chris discussed issues relating to the proposed sale of a division, which was the subject of a deal planning exercise from earlier in the term. Alex and Chris also shared their own experiences on recent transactions and, in particular, their roles as the lead M&A associates in those transactions. They discussed with O&T students the due diligence process, transaction coordination and management (including within the law firm’s own deal team), and client and partner expectations and communications.