Every business lawyer, regardless of his or her practice area, has occasion to work closely with – and therefore needs to be familiar with – the services and expertise provided by financial and accounting professionals. That is why one of the stops on Professor Heymann’s Field Trip to the Real World is at a major investment banking firm. This year, for the first time, UW law students will also have an opportunity to visit a major business consulting and accounting firm.
On Thursday afternoon, Nov. 16 (3-5 PM), we will visit the Madison office (and headquarters) of Virchow Krause, the 15th largest accounting firm in the US. Virchow Krause has 13 offices (including Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit and Milwaukee), and more than 1200 professional employees. Like the Field Trip to the Real World, the purpose of this visit is to enable law students to gain exposure to important and sophisticated business and financial issues that business lawyers need to be familiar with but that they are unlikely to obtain through traditional law school curricular offerings.
Specifically, on Nov. 16, five Virchow Krause partners will make 20-30 minute presentations on these important topics:
1. Mergers and Acquisitions: Business lawyers rely heavily onaccountants and other financial professionals to evaluate the termsof transactions and to conduct critical aspects of the due diligenceprocess. We cannot function without them.
2. Private Equity and other Investment services: Nothing is“hotter” or more vibrant in the business world than the incrediblerise of Private Equity. We will receive a brief, focused introductionto the latest and most significant developments in the critically important capital markets.
3. Sarbanes-Oxley compliance: In addition to an overview of traditional auditing services, we will learn about Virchow Krause’ssubstantial SOX compliance practice. Many lawyers don’t realizethat it is the accountants, not the lawyers, who perform the greatmajority of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance consulting for public companies.
4. Real Estate transactional practice: An overview of like-kindexchanges, low income housing tax credit development projects, and the world of tax credit financing.
5. Litigation support and “forensic accounting”: Consultants andaccountants are essential to many aspects of business litigation, including securities litigation, antitrust litigation, takeover fights,and countless aspects of civil and criminal litigation where themeasure of damages or calculation of the nature or extent of commercial harm is at issue.
6. Business Valuation: Whether a business lawyer is representingentrepreneurs, investors, corporations, or family businesses; whetherthe issue is structuring a start-up, handling an IPO, or working on asophisticated M & A transaction; whether a business venture is already in litigation or whether the importance of the issue is suchthat litigation is “just” an inherent possibility – the lawyer will needto work closely with a sophisticated business valuation expert.
