probably the biggest mistake uh that uh

clients make is succumbing to what i

call deal fever the client gets

wrapped up

uh in the in the transaction excited

adrenaline

flows and you lose sight of the risks

you become overly overly optimistic

and you wind up taking on risks that you

don’t necessarily appreciate because

you’re feeling

feeling kind of juiced up i think

probably one of the best examples of

this that i’ve encountered in my

practice

are earnouts a seller agrees to be pay

sell the business and be paid over time

by the buyer the seller thinks that

there’s going to be no problem earning

the urn out uh everything is rosy and

then later on uh parties have a

disagreement as to the direction that

the business will take

the relationship sours and then the

seller comes back and and finds that

he’s disappointed because uh he’s not

going to get the urn out that he’s

expected and you’re in a dispute and

then the lawyer is being asked uh get me

out of this how can you get me my money

the other mistake i think that happens

frequently in mergers and acquisition

transactions is that clients can get

frustrated with their lawyers because

they think that we’re deal killers

because we’re pointing out risks that

clients need to understand

it’s difficult because you know the

client wants to get the transaction done

and actually the lawyers want to see a

lawyer i want to see the client get the

transaction done but i want to see the

client also wind up with a transaction

that’s legally sound where the client

has understood the risks that have been

allocated to the client so that it’s

going to be a transaction that’s going

to be be a success and not a source of

dispute and disappointment