Brandon C. Parris

Parris’ track record speaks for itself.

He is leading the team of more than 40 attorneys across six offices and three continents that is advising Sprint Corp. and its controlling shareholder SoftBank Group Corp. on an all-stock merger with T-Mobile US Inc. The deal is pending but was announced in April of last year.

Closing share prices when the deal was announced gave Sprint a $59 billion enterprise value and the combined entity was valued at $146 billion.

“This type of deal is what deal lawyers live for,” Parris said. “You see a myriad of different issues that come up. This transaction was fairly unique because each of the public companies was owned significantly by another public company. Each of those public companies was based in another country.

“Needless to say, there were a lot of moving parts and staying on top of all of the issues was challenging.”

Once it closes, this merger could be one of the largest technology, media and telecommunications deal to date.

Parris has also advised software company VMware Inc., on several large-scale deals over the past few years. He is counseling VMware on its $2.1 billion acquisition of Carbon Black Inc., announced on Aug. 22.

Part of Parris’ legal advocacy is the focus he puts clients’ goals. This focus, he said, helps him navigate complex issues.

“These types of transactions are complex and sometimes focusing on the complexities can be a little bit daunting,” Parris said. “We work with a whole host of name brand clients that we deal with in our everyday lives. We have to zero in on a particular goal and the strategy that clients are looking for in a transaction and make sure we’re advising our clients on achieving those goals. We tune out the rest.”

Boyd Gaming Corp. and Hortonworks Inc. are some of Parris’ other longtime clients.

“Never take a client relationship for granted. My view is that you’re always judged on your last deal and so it’s important that you’re doing the best work that you can for any given transaction,” Parris said.

“That’s the only way that you can continue to build a brand and get repeat work form clients. You have to work with clients so they feel like they’re being well-taken care of and that they can place their trust in us.”

— Alexandra Applegate