Keith A. Flaum

Flaum has made relationships a priority during his 25 year career as a mergers and acquisitions attorney.

The strategy works. He has had relationships with some clients, such as Applied Materials Inc., for more than 20 years. Flaum led the Hogan Lovells team advising Applied Materials Inc., a engineering solutions provider, in its $2.2 billion acquisition of all outstanding shares of Kokusai Electric. The deal was announced on July 1 of this year.

The long-term relationships with the executive team gave him an advantage as a legal advisor, Flaum said.

"When you've been in the trenches with a client for so long and you've done 15, 20 or 50 deals with a particular client, you really know what's important to them, and you know their risk tolerance," Flaum said. "I can sit in negotiations and say things that you couldn't say if you've only worked with them for a few weeks or it's your first deal. Those long-term relationships really help when you're a lead attorney on a deal."

Domestic and cross-border merger and acquisition transactions are some types of deals Flaum handles as well as complex joint ventures. He has developed a specialty in representing information technology and life sciences companies. At first, Flaum wasn't well-versed in these subjects, but over time he developed a skill set which allowed him to grow into a top international M&A attorney.

"I speak no other languages - I don't even speak English all that well - I have no tech background, there are no lawyers in my family, and I hadn't visited very many countries before I became a lawyer," Flaum said, "But now, I'm an international M&A lawyer in the tech space. It works because the clients are so excited about what they do that if you show interest, they are more than happy to teach you and educate you."

The University of California, Davis alumnus also led the deal team that counseled Autodesk on its $875 million acquisition of software company PlanGrid, which was announced on Nov. 20, 2018. This was Autodesk's largest transaction to date.

Outside of learning more about tech and life science matters, Flaum said he enjoys all the areas of law he gets to explore as an M&A attorney.

"As an M&A lawyer, you've got to be part securities lawyers, part financial advisor and understand the investment banker analysis, part IP lawyer, part employee benefits lawyer and part psychologist because of all the cultural aspects and emotions that come up," Flaum said. "I love the fact that I get to use all of these different things. I never get bored as an M&A lawyer."

Although he has been successful as an individual attorney in his career, Flaum said he also owes part of his success to the mentors he had as a young attorney and the team he has worked with for more than 20 years that includes partners Richard E. Climan, Jane Ross and John P. Brockland.

"You're only as good as your team, and I have a great team," Flaum said. "Having that team is a critical aspect to being successful."

-- Alexandra Applegate