In one of the most prescient articles ever written, Brill wrote:
Wall Street's Sullivan & Cromwell and Shearson Lehman/American Express have begun secret negotiations aimed at a deal in which S&C would become the first law firm to be acquired by a financial services conglomerate....Under terms of the proposed S&C buyout--which would be dependent on S&C successfully moving to overturn...Code of Professional Responsibility rules prohibiting nonlawyers from sharing in lawyers' fees--S&C would, as one source close to the deal puts it, "become an integrated part of the package of services Shearson Lehman/American Express can offer major corporations....when the deal is done, we're going to restructure S&C's fees so that in mergers and acquisitions they'll charge a percentage of the deal, the way investment bankers do."
It was fiction, as Brill said, but I wonder if he realized it could become true? He does say in the article, "Sure, the idea in its totality is off the wall for many reasons..." Not any more.
1 comment:
Well -- perhaps even earlier! Remember Bernie Cornfeld and Investors Overseas Services? In the late 1960's one of his senior executives approached one of my London partners to inquire whether Baker & McKenzie might be interested in being acquired by IOS. (He was told that there might well be interest, but that, sadly, there were some -- probably insurmountable -- difficulties!)
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