Case study: senior legal counsel for a cross-border M&A transaction

The company was carrying out a cross-border transaction. Its in-house corporate/M&A team had to coordinate its own legal department, several international law firms and local counsel in the countries involved – from due diligence through signing and closing to integration.

In cross-border deals this coordination takes a lot of time: channelling information, aligning the law firms' work streams and resolving questions internally. For the duration of the transaction, the in-house team needed additional experienced capacity for this coordination.

Alpinum Solutions provided a senior legal counsel with corporate and M&A experience. The assignment ran as staff leasing, legally Personalverleih under Swiss law, full-time over twelve months. The time to start was two weeks. The professional was integrated into the in-house corporate/M&A team and supported the transaction from due diligence through signing and closing to integration.

How the company steered the assignment

• Reporting line: the senior legal counsel reported to corporate/M&A and group legal.
• Right to give instructions: the company held the right to give professional instructions; priorities, approvals and transaction decisions stayed with the in-house team.
• Coordination: the professional coordinated the work between the in-house legal department, international law firms and local counsel.
• Role of the law firms: outside law firms and local counsel remained responsible for their own mandates; the interim professional was the interface on the company side.

Alpinum remained the point of contact for the company and the professional on contract, terms and duration. The legal work was directed by the client's corporate/M&A team.

For the full twelve months, the company had an experienced point of contact for the transaction within its own team. Coordination between the in-house legal department, international law firms and local counsel therefore sat with the company itself rather than being spread across several outside parties.

• Transaction: completed successfully, supported from due diligence through signing and closing to integration.
• Team: the in-house corporate/M&A team was relieved during the transaction.

For similar projects, the case shows that an integrated professional under staff leasing works well when the company wants to keep control of its law firms and the transaction ties up capacity for many months. The tasks in each deal phase are described in project lawyers for M&A and corporate work.