Q&A: Sandy Lourie

Age: 50
Family: Wife and two children, ages 9 and 12.
Education: A 1983 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business; and a 1979 graduate of Duke University.
Professional: He concentrates his practice on general corporate, securities, and international law matters at Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg, and is co-chair of the firm’s corporate and securities group. His clients include Hitachi, Wanxiang Group, Mizuho Bank, Mediware Information Systems, and The Horton Group.

1. What is the last big deal or case you worked on, and what did it entail?
The last big trans­action I worked on we represented Hitachi and we put together a global alliance between Hitachi and General Electric to produce nuclear power plants, and provide nuclear services around the world. There are still a lot of aspects of it that are ongoing. It’s been going on for most of [2007]. The transactions themselves actually closed in June and July in two different parts.

2. What is the weirdest thing that ever happened to you as a lawyer?
In the early ’90s, I was working on a public offering. I was at my prior law firm at the time. The company was in the petroleum industry and had one primary customer. We closed the public offering on a Friday, and then the customer filed for bankruptcy the next Monday, which meant that the SEC started looking into the offering. Despite conducting extensive due diligence, we had no idea this was coming, and this just absolutely blew us away.

We went into a state of panic. There were a number of people working on the team, and we went back and looked at the due diligence we had done and tried to see if there was anything that should have indicated this was happening. Eventually we changed some of disclosures on an ongoing basis, but the offering had already gone public and the stock had been sold. It was too late to do anything much at that point.

3. If you could have lunch with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?
George Washington. It would be interesting to talk about what it takes to have a vision to really do something different, and really change the world in which people are living. And I think he probably had that. It would just be interesting to hear some of the highs and lows he went through as he was leading the revolution.

4. What is your favorite book, television show, or movie about lawyers, and why?
I really enjoyed “L.A. Law,” and the reason was, it was so different from my life and it was interesting to see how a firm like that was portrayed. It really had very, very little to do with reality. It was especially interesting to see how they were able to solve every case and finalize every transaction in one hour, which maybe it’s something I’m doing wrong, but I’ve just not had that type of luck.

5. What advice do you have for new lawyers or those wanting to become lawyers?
I think I would advise new lawyers to make sure they don’t over-specialize too early. I think that clients, at least on the transaction side, are looking for general advice. It is a shame, but it is interesting how quickly new lawyers are willing to say, “You need to talk to the specialist,” and really hand things off …

In my practice, where I am a general corporate lawyer, it is important to really know what’s going on with all aspects of the transactions.

6. What do you like the most and the least about being a lawyer?
I like having the freedom to work with a number of different companies and to learn their industries. To me, it’s fun dealing with clients all over the world, and in a wide variety of businesses. And, really, in order to be an effective transaction lawyer, you really have to learn something about all the businesses.

I think what I enjoy least is keeping track of time, and working with clients on billing who are not sure what they are purchasing. It’s frustrating, especially with foreign clients who may not be as used to paying hourly rates as domestic clients. It’s often difficult for them to understand the value of a service that may be intangible.

7. If you didn’t become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?
In high school I worked at a theme park and I thought that was great. And they offered me an opportunity to come back after college and do theme park management. I think that would have been something really interesting.

You are dealing with people who are happy to be in your office, which is not always the case as a lawyer. People are always having fun. It seems like at the end of the day you are managing a small village — or, in the case of Disney, not so small.

— Interviewed by Olivia Clarke