Gardere Corporate, Banking and Finance Partner Hoang Quan Vu was featured in Law360's Dealmakers Q&A series. Mr. Vu's transactional practice involves representing lenders, issuers, borrowers, sponsors, purchasers, and public and private companies, specifically focusing on the oil, gas and energy sectors.
In responding to "advice he would give an aspiring dealmaker," Mr. Vu answered:
"My best advice to aspiring dealmakers everywhere is to remember why you were hired. Clients don't want to know how smart you are, if you can spot every single problem, or whether you can recite book, chapter and verse on the law. They also don't want to know if that comma on page 38 should be a semicolon. Our clients have one main question for us: 'Can you help close this deal with the least amount of risk?' Almost every skill that you should want or need to learn as a dealmaker should be acquired and exercised with the goal of answering that question.
It is not enough to see the trees; you must see the forest. It is not enough to spot all the hidden risks or problems in a deal (which is clearly helpful); you must come up with creative (and legal!) solutions to solve them. It is not enough to give the good legal advice; you must give good advice (i.e., correct legal advice married with good old-fashioned common sense)."
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