Role of commercial lawyers in London in mergers and acquisitions

 When it comes to merge two different firms, there are lots of legal complexities that need to be studied to finalize the deal, so it’s important to hire an attorney to keep things under control. Commercial lawyers in London generally provide help in drafting legal documents such as the letter of intent and acquisition agreement, and even employment agreements to keep important people at the company after the deal settles. They also deal in cases like due diligence and negotiations and answer any legal questions you may come across.

Lawyers provide guidance on deal roadmap, so you can construct the deal to your advantage for tax and legal purposes. Though it’s not compulsory, a favored deal structure – stock purchase, asset purchase, or merger – is often quantified in the letter of intent, so don’t wait for too much to make your tax and legal teams involved.

Though commercial lawyers in London are important to combing together a deal, don’t default to them. Lawyers are skilled identify and eliminate risk, but risk is inherent to acquisition. Being an acquirer, it’s your job to cause the transaction and examine it from a business viewpoint.

The primary jobs done by commercial lawyers in London are:

Adviser

Most importantly, M&A lawyers provide services in an advisory capacity. They will evaluate the condition of each company seeking to get into the transaction to make sure that both are in decent financial standing and have all necessary corporate records in place

Mediator

The lawyers are just one portion of the professionals needed to deal with an M&A transaction. There are often accountants, bankers, real estate brokers, and several other members who deliver specialized professional services that will be needed to make things possible. Even though every individual plays a key role in helping move things along, it is typically the M&A counsel who serve as the main point of contact.

Negotiator

A big portion any lawyer’s job is negotiation. People are known to think that this means lawyers simply try to negotiate their way to winning, and although arguing is a thing that most of them do well, negotiating is entirely different. It is M&A counsel’s job to make sure that a deal closes as it is supposed to when it is supposed to, and that all parties are satisfied with the final result.

Drafter

M&A deals need a lot of documentation, such as term sheets, contracts, opinions, letters, registrations, and government applications, among other necessary written elements. The drafting of these important documents also comes under the profile of the M&A attorney. Generally, there will not just be one attorney allotted for the transaction, but an entire team sometimes from one firm and sometimes from different firms who tend to work together. Lawyers often get into a divide-and-win method of getting things done, so there may be a handful of people precisely tasked with drafting. Clearly, the words, grammar, and punctuation are all extremely important to avert possible disputes, so most documents will go through several rounds of review before being finalized.