Putting younger lawyers in positions where they can succeed is the most rewarding part of being a manager at a law firm, according to David Bonser.
Bonser, the global managing partner of the corporate practice and global head of the REIT practice at Hogan Lovells, on this week’s Drinks With The Deal podcast pointed to two transactions earlier this year led by Stacey P. McEvoy, a REIT M&A partner who’s spent her entire career at the firm. McEvoy advised Duke Realty Corp. on its $28 billion sale to Prologis Inc. (PLD) and VICI Properties Inc. (VICI) on its $17.2 billion purchase of MGM Growth Properties LLC.
Bonser was the beneficiary of such opportunities himself. He worked on his first REIT deal as a first-year associate in 1987 and prospered as the sector began to boom in the early 1990s. When J. Warren Gorrell Jr. became CEO of Hogan Lovells in 2001, he turned the group over to Bonser, who has continued to run it as the REIT sector has matured and the team’s work has shifted from initial public offerings to M&A, joint ventures and other corporate matters.
Lawyers are by nature independent, and law firms as organizations lack the clear hierarchies that many companies have, which makes law firm management a largely intuitive enterprise, Bonser said.
“You cannot manage to a group. You have to manage to people,” he said.
Listen to the podcast with David Bonser below:
More podcasts from The Deal are available on iTunes, Spotify and on TheDeal.com.
