Brian J. McCarthy

Practice type; Corporate transactions

Specialty: Mergers and acquisitions

Big Matters: The $7.4 billion acquisition of National Health Properties (NHP) by Ventas Inc.

Humility is a rare quality for a lawyer who produces multibillion-dollar deals for a living. McCarthy, however, doesn't have a problem talking about his first merger deal that he confessed slipped through his fingers.

"I had no idea what I was doing," McCarthy recalled of the potential merger he was assigned as an associate in 1978 between two chemical companies - Celanese Corporation and Olin Corporation. "Everyone was talking in Greek. People asked me to go do things, and I had to leave the room and ask people what it was that I was supposed to do."

The deal, valued at approximately $1.5 billion, never played out. But remaining eager to take on big projects, McCarthy's career did.

This year, he was lead counsel for National Health Properties (NHP), a Newport Beach-based real estate investment trust (REIT), in its $7.4 billion acquisition by Ventas Inc., an S&P 500 company and health care REIT. The resultant company invests primarily in health care real estate, with properties in 47 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces.

"That's why they call it the practice of law," McCarthy said. "You just keep practicing. You work with people who are older and have more experience, and you pick it up."

- CASEY SULLIVAN