Noah Hanft, CEO & President, The CPR Institute
It’s a familiar refrain. Those of us who have been practicing law for a while have seen it many times. A successful company – maybe a start-up or perhaps a competitor – finds itself courted by a potential partner for a merger, acquisition or joint venture. And in those early heady days of courtship, both parties, naturally, focus on all the good stuff such as profits, press and growth, rather than what could go wrong. When a disagreement occurs, as so often happens, resolving it means painful, expensive litigation or, at the least, messy settlement negotiations. Often the fight gets ugly, cooler heads don’t prevail and the relationship ends.