Overview
BOSTON (May 18, 2016) – Taking the lead in recognizing the need to deliver value to M&A clients, McDermott Corporate partner Byron S. Kalogerou has led the creation of a definitive guide to using legal project management in mergers and acquisitions. The new manual, entitled “Using Legal Project Management in Merger & Acquisition Transactions: A Guidebook for Managing Deals Efficiently and Effectively,” has just been published by the American Bar Association.
Mr. Kalogerou, a legal project management pioneer, co-edited the Guidebook with former McDermott colleague, Dennis White. Both serve as Co-Chairs of the ABA Business Law Section’s Task Force on the Use of Legal Project Management in M&A and led and coordinated the efforts of over 70 lawyers to build a suite of 15 practical and scalable checklists, forms and tools that can readily be customized and implemented in M&A practice.
The Guidebook contains tools to help M&A lawyers streamline and manage transactions to meet the increasing demands for transparency in the deal process and predictability of legal costs in M&A, without overlooking important matters or compromising the quality of their legal services. “These tools are invaluable to law firm and in-house deal lawyers in defining scope, allocating resources, and establishing realistic budgets,” said Mr. Kalogerou. “They will enable better communication discipline when scope and budgets change, bringing much needed efficiency to the deal planning, budgeting and execution.”
Mr. Kalogerou saw the value of developing and applying a planning and communications discipline to complex M&A matters from his experience at Tyco International where he spent 14 years as in-house counsel involved in over $37 billion in M&A driven growth. When he returned to private practice 11 years ago, he began to employ basic principles of project management to his M&A practice. He developed the first-of-its-kind, web-based legal project management deal portal, the M&A Gateway, which was adopted by McDermott as part of its Client Central engagement platform.
David Dolkas, a partner in the Firm’s Silicon Valley office, is a leader on the use of legal project management for complex litigation, and the author of “Managing Complex Litigation: A Guide to MAP (Manage, Analyze, and Present) A Complex IP Case (Second Edition).”
“We are proud to have two pioneers and leaders in the use of legal project management as partners in the Firm,” said Peter J. Sacripanti, co-chair of McDermott Will & Emery. “McDermott is always seeking to enhance our value proposition to clients and we believe that the use of legal project management enhances the value of the services we deliver to our clients. Whether through our Discovery Center, Corporate Service Center, or the M&A Gateway, the Firm is taking concrete actions to respond to the dynamic demands of the marketplace.”
Mr. Kalogerou’s guidebook can be ordered online at:
http://shop.americanbar.org/eBus/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?productId=240499761
Mr. Dolkas’ book on managing complex litigation can be ordered online on Amazon.
About McDermott
McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a diversified business practice. Numbering more than 1,000 lawyers, we have offices in Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. Further extending our reach into Asia, we have a strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices in Shanghai.
