Reuters Breakingviews reckons that there isn’t much point to M&A lawyers:
“U.S. deal lawyers are not as valuable as they may think. Financial markets are largely indifferent to the legal terms of agreed public company mergers, new research shows. That may be because most transactions close regardless of the fine print. M&A attorneys have their uses, but agonizing over detailed wording isn’t the best way to serve clients.”
Although this poorly-argued piece does drag itself to concluding that “lawyers, of course, play useful roles in structuring deals, clearing regulatory hurdles and guiding clients through transactional risks”.
