The Closer: A Q&A with David Barrett, executive partner at Faegre Drinker

David Barrett, an executive partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, knew in high school that he was interested in pursuing law as a career.

Working his way through undergrad and law school, he eventually found his place in corporate law in Indianapolis.

Barrett said he enjoys building merger and acquisition deals with his colleagues, both those he’s known for years and newer attorneys just starting out. 

“They all know that I’ll have their backs and will continue to give them increasingly more responsibility as they gain more experience,” he said. 

In an interview with The Indiana Lawyer, Barrett explained how he got his start in the field and what sustains his dealmaking. 

How did you come to be involved in merger and acquisition work?

I knew that I wanted to go to law school starting in high school and was most interested in corporate law for a long time. Then I majored in economics at Wabash and had a law and economics course there that I really liked. And then, when I had summer clerkships at law firms, I was always clear and expressed my interest in corporate law. Once I started practicing, I really found M&A work especially rewarding, and then just focused on it more and more as I gained seniority within the firm. 

What about it interests you?

I like to solve problems and work collaboratively with clients, also the other side, to identify and solve the most difficult problems in the deal, then ultimately get the transactions closed. Although there are certainly plenty of adversarial aspects of M&A, in the end, it really takes good collaboration between the parties to solve the difficult problems and get the deal closed.

My other favorite aspect about M&A is, you get to build and work with teams within your firm. I have a great team of specialists I work with, many of whom I’ve worked with for years and years, and we know each other really well, we know how each other works. Finally, I also enjoy working with our more junior corporate lawyers and watching them grow.

What kind of M&A work are you best known for?

I work across a number of sectors, and I really enjoy that variety. It varies year to year, but I probably spend the most of my time in three areas: manufacturing, technology and construction.

What’s the biggest deal you’ve worked on?

The largest deal for me, where I had a leading role, was approximately $2 billion and it was an interesting deal and involved the sale of municipal assets. I call it fascinating in a number of ways. In particular, there were a number of public hearings and municipal finance aspects of that transaction. So in that case, I worked with several colleagues in those areas with whom I normally don’t get a chance to work with.

What are the keys to closing a deal?

Two things come to mind for me. The first, I mentioned before, is identifying and solving the most difficult issues. I find that typically, transactions run most smoothly when those issues are identified early on. When something’s discovered in the later stages of the transaction, that often erodes trust among the parties. So again, I just think it’s really important to get that up front.

The second thing that comes to mind for me is the importance of collaboration among the parties on a broad basis, so not only the lawyers and the key client contacts, but also the broader teams on both sides. In my view, everyone plays an important role in the transaction, and when any particular key player is overly difficult or doesn’t play his or her role well, that makes the transaction more difficult to close.

What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned?

I think the importance of having a good team. I rely heavily on my team, and I take the time to make sure my team understands each transaction and their individual roles in those transactions, and they all know that I’ll have their backs and will continue to give them increasingly more responsibility as they gain more experience. 

Secondly, the importance of communication and relationship building with clients. Every client is different. Every deal is different. Clients are busy. Even clients with whom I work on many deals, their preferences may vary deal by deal. But I just find it really important to communicate early and often with clients. They’re the boss at the end of the day. I will typically have a discussion with each client at the beginning of the deal to make sure that we’re on the same page as to what role they want to play, and then what role that they want me to play.

What’s your best advice for aspiring M&A attorneys?

Be curious. Take the time to try to understand the deal. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Also, really importantly, find good mentors who are willing to invest in your career and not just treat you like an interchangeable part on their deals.

How do you recommend finding good mentors?

Ask other associates, ask other younger lawyers who have been around a while and have worked with various partners and other attorneys. I think mentoring in life in general, not just in M&A, is super important. I hear different types of stories all the time from different people on how they find mentors. Sometimes it’s bar association groups for lawyers…or just friends and social networks. I go back to, ask questions, ask people what experiences they’ve had, how they found mentors.

What are your best M&A predictions for the coming year? What sectors do you think will heat up or cool down?

It’s been a choppy market for quite some time over the last couple years, and most M&A professionals, I find, are optimistic about the future generally. 

I do personally believe we are now experiencing an uptick in the broad market. Tariffs will continue to play a big role in many sectors, particularly manufacturing, but assuming trade deals continue to get worked out…if we actually get some interest rate relief, I do expect the manufacturing and industrial sectors in particular to heat up. I also expect the same for the financial services sector, that, in my view, benefited from a more friendly regulatory environment. Also, I think the healthcare, life sciences and technology sectors, I expect those to continue to remain strong.

Going back to tariffs, there’s certainly certain countries that are disfavored by the administration. I think, regardless of sector, I expect some continued challenges for any deal that involves those countries, or certainly to the extent that tariffs hit certain countries more than others. I would expect that to continue to be a real drag in those sectors as well.