In our M&A practice, WSMB works primarily with privately held corporate clients that are engaging in stock and asset sales and purchases, mergers, and joint venture and other corporate partnering transactions. Because our corporate clients often are not the type of businesses that engage regularly in M&A transactions, we are accustomed to providing substantial support and informational services designed to demystify an often complex transactional process. Our substantial experience representing entrepreneurs building high-growth companies (and having served in the past on the management teams of those types of companies) has made us particularly adept at helping our clients understand the practical, business risks arising from different approaches to structuring an M&A deal.

For some of our clients, their first-ever M&A transaction often is the sale of the business that they founded and then successfully grew over a period of years, frequently involving their taking new executive roles in the acquiring company. We can provide the broad-based legal expertise required to assist sellers of this type in planning the post-acquisition phase of their lives, including in negotiating their new employment, benefits and equity compensation arrangements.

In addition to representing parties in acquiring and selling companies and parts of businesses, we are highly proficient in representing both individuals and entities who have decided to part ways in their joint ownership of a business enterprise.