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Brad Schwer, partner in charge at the Indianapolis office of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, said he knew he wanted to work in mergers and acquisitions right out of the gate, opting to earn both his law degree and master of business administration from Indiana University through the school’s dual degree program.
Schwer, who led Taft’s M&A group before becoming partner in charge in 2017, said the key to representing clients well is to truly understand not just how the transactions work, but what clients’ motivations are behind them, and how the process will impact them in the long run.
“It’s a holistic kind of approach to not only what we’re doing today, but what, in large part, the rest of [the client’s] life looks like,” he said.
The Indiana Lawyer recently asked Schwer to describe how he has navigated his career and what advice he has for others. Here are his responses.
What about M&A work interests you?
The fast-paced nature of the transactions, the complexity of the transactions, the way that you really have to master a lot of different areas of the law to do it well. But above all else, really being able to be in a role of both business and legal adviser to your clients really attracted me.
What kind of M&A work are you best known for?
I would probably say middle-market and lower-middle-market transactions, but it’s industries of all types, everything from technology to manufacturing to healthcare.
I represent private equity, I represent strategics, and I also represent business owners. So, I really enjoy all three of those for different reasons. But it’s a really varied and kind of interesting practice to do all three.
What’s the biggest deal you’ve worked on?
Sometimes the biggest deals aren’t necessarily the toughest to get done—sometimes there is not a correlation between size of deal and how difficult it is to get done. My biggest deal numbers-wise, it’d probably be $500 to $750 million, if I had to put a number on it, but, a number of the smaller ones have been more challenging.
What are the keys to closing a deal?
Anticipating the potential issues that could arise up front. But above all else, thinking like a businessperson, first and foremost, within the context of the legal process, and realizing what both sides are trying to achieve at the end of the day and working collaboratively with all parties to achieve that goal.
What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned so far in your career?
Listen to your client, listen to the other side, listen to what they’re trying to achieve. Really understand it. Dig into not only the process, but really the heart of it, because that’ll really dictate everything else.
When I [previously said] think like a businessperson, it’s not just about the transaction. It’s a holistic kind of approach to not only what we’re doing today, but what, in large part, the rest of [the client’s] life looks like. It’s looking at their estate planning on the sell side, to make sure that they have everything lined up, and they’re thinking not only about themselves, but of course, generations of their families to come…it is very personal, not only in the context of this specific transaction, but personal in the sense of themselves and their family and what their life is, not only today, but tomorrow.
What’s your best advice for aspiring M&A attorneys?
Dig in. Learn as much as you can, as soon as you can, because, again, to be a good M&A attorney, you’ve got to know a lot about a lot of different areas, and so the quicker you can get up that learning curve, the better.
Always ask yourself questions like, “why?” and “what if?” It’s amazing what can come about when you really ask those things. And I know these are cliches, but you really have to see both the forest and the trees, and so you’ve got to be able to do the technical things but also understand what we’re trying to achieve by getting from A to Z in a transaction.
What are your best M&A predictions for the coming year? What sectors do you think will heat up or cool down?
Everybody is talking about AI, but it’s really the areas surrounding AI, whether that be power generation, electrical, etc. That’s definitely a trend that we’re seeing. I would say we’re also seeing a trend where we are seeing more business owners, especially [the] baby boom generation as they continue to age, look at potential exits out of their companies and younger generations coming in to want to buy them…we are continuing to see that generational passing of the torch. •
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