The role of the lawyer in a Management Buyout

In a typical Management Buyout the Corporate Finance adviser gets involved well before any deal happens, and often prospectively when no deal ever happens.  This is typically with a fee at risk - i.e. no deal no fee.  In contrast the lawyers get involved towards the end and with much less risk.  However they do do huge amounts of work at this stage - especially if its a complex deal that must be done speedily. 

I completed such a transaction before Christmas - PR to follow - and thought this photo of the completion meeting illustrates well the volume of work the corporate lawyers do.  They are shy retiring folk and I promised not to mention them by name in this blog - but they know who they are!  This MBO was complicated and the completion agenda had approx 90 documents to be executed in the right order.  They're shown lined up in three rows on a long table in a London lawyers office.