Skilled Lawyer Series: The anatomy of a deal

  • December 14, 2015

One Canadian company would like to buy another company of roughly the same size, a deal at mid-market level. What happens next?

That’s the question that’s asked – and answered – in the new Skilled Lawyer Series being launched in January.

The series consists of eight core modules that explore all aspects of a modern deal, from the project management plan, to financing and due diligence, to drafting the agreement and closing the deal. Two secondary groups of four modules each will take a more focused look at considerations for larger deals and collateral agreements respectively.

Now in its sixth year, the Skilled Lawyer Series is responding to participants’ requests for more material that is focused on legal drafting – the collateral agreements modules, for example, are directly based on member feedback. The expert presenters represent a diversity of firm sizes and geographic and practice areas.

All of the modules are connected by a core set of details prepared by Jake Bullen, a partner with Cassels Brock: a TSX-listed clothing company in B.C.  plans to buy a federal corporation that manufactures and sells specialized sports clothing and recently secured the contract to produce jerseys for all the NHL teams through 2019. Each session looks at a different part of the same deal. Participants can pick and choose among the modules, but the running narrative, or “fact pattern,” will make the instruction more meaningful for those who register for all the sessions.

The series will be helpful not only for new lawyers, but also those lawyers in larger firms who typically would see only one small part of a deal – say due diligence. Seeing the bigger picture enables them to better understand why their work is necessary and therefore should help them better target their own efforts. Lawyers in small firms will also benefit.

Most sessions will offer precedents, checklists and other takeaway documents that lawyers will be able to immediately put to use in their own practices.

Season six of the Skilled Lawyer Series starts January 26 and runs to the end of June.