Sometimes an M&A lawyer’s book of business can take a hit if his client is acquired by a company that relies on a different lawyer for future transactional work.
But relationships matter, and if an in-house counsel at the acquired company gets a new job, the M&A lawyer may continue to get business—just for a new client.
That appea
rs to be what happened with Alston & Bird partner Scott Ortwein [see photo, left] and former Alston corporate partner Craig Apolinsky. Ortwein was co-lead counsel to poultry producer Gold Kist Inc. during its 2006 negotiations with Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. on the terms of a buyout. During those negotiations, Apolinsky was senior attorney and deputy general counsel at Gold Kist.
After Pilgrim’s Pride’s $1.24 billion purchase of Gold Kist closed in January 2007, Apolinsky was hired as general counsel of Merge Healthcare Inc. of Milwaukee. In May of this year, when Merge Healthcare secured a $16.6 million investment from Merrick Ventures LLC of Chicago, Ortwein was the company’s outside counsel on the transaction.
Ortwein noted that the firm had represented companies at which Merge Healthcare’s previous CEO and CFO had worked—in addition to Apolinsky.
Apolinsky said he was among several people who decided to hire Alston & Bird for the job.
Merrick Ventures’ investment in Merge Healthcare came amid turmoil at the software company. Within the past two years, Merge Healthcare has had four different chief executives. As part of its investment, Merrick Ventures said that its managing partner, Justin Dearborn, would become Merge Healthcare’s chief executive.
McDermott Will & Emery advised Merrick Ventures on its investment in Merge Healthcare.