I didn’t seek out to be an M&A lawyer. It is a part of my work and I find myself gravitate towards this practice area more than other corporate work that I have done: What I like being an M&A lawyer: 1. The work is (usually) intellectually stimulating. See last …

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰, 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬?’ 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥,’ 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦?’ 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥,’ 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦.” I have always liked the exchange above between Thorin and Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien’s …

I sighed inwardly when I was greeted with three forms to fill when I attended my dental appointment. There was a form to fill in personal data, a privacy consent form and a questionnaire about medical history. The last form was a two-page questionnaire with ‘answer yes/no’ questions squeezed into …

I decided early in my career that I would not go into practice areas which are more “personal”. Corporate laws seemed to be a more neutral choice. I probably got this wrong. *** One of the transactions I was involved in gave me a different insight. The vendors sold their …

In M&A transactions, lawyers are naturally inclined to draft and negotiate agreements that put our clients in a strong legal position. That is our job. For a buyer, it may mean providing for the following in the sale and purchase agreement (SPA): – solid representations and warranties by the seller …

I was involved in an initial public offering (IPO) and listing of a company (with subsidiaries) in the early stage of my career. That listed group then went on to acquire several companies and businesses through shares and assets acquisitions, which I was involved in. The terms for the consideration …

Being good in the technical aspect of law is just the first step in practising law. There is so much more that goes into practising law in the private practice. Consider the following: 1. Having a template or precedent (even a good one) would not help much if you do …

Part of my job as a corporate lawyer is to listen when clients explain the commercial terms that they want to include in agreements. The next stage involves asking detailed questions to clarify how the commercial terms should work in the actual world (and not just in theory). Sometimes the …

One of the challenges that I face as I progress through my career is how to delegate effectively. Sometimes, it is easier to draft than to review others’ drafts. Putting my own thoughts into words may be easier than reviewing others’ work and trying to understand their flow of thoughts. …

When I started working on corporate finance transactions as a junior lawyer, it was overwhelming. It was a constant rush to ensure comments for announcements, circulars and submission documents were sent to principal advisers in time for the announcements and submissions to be made. Lunch time in the early years …