Mr. Amit Sondhi is a corporate attorney whose practice focuses on a variety of corporate transactions for small, to middle-market clients, including M&A, seed to series investments, corporate structure, fund formation, and capital raising solutions.
Mr. Sondhi recently spoke to Haute Media Group co-founder and COO Seth Semilof for the latest edition of the Haute Lawyer Webinar series. The fellow Boston University Terriers discussed Mr. Sondhi’s initial interest in law, why he chose to go back to school for an MBA after successfully practicing law for eight years, and more. Here are some of the highlights from their conversation:
Seth Semilof: What led you to go back to school for your MBA while working a full-time job?
Amit Sondhi: I graduated law school from BU in ’08/’09, when the financial crisis hit. I came to Manhattan shortly after Lehman Brothers collapsed, and Goldman Sachs was in much distress (Warren Buffet ended up financing them).
At the time, I didn’t have much background in finance. In law school you study cases and learn a great deal about civil procedure, constitutional law, etc. I believe you learn significantly less about how finance can affect capital markets and how legal regulations sometimes fail us but also help protect people.
Many students graduating at the same time as me were getting laid off, or having their offers rescinded from some of the largest, most prestigious law firms in the greater New York City area. I was fortunate enough no to be effected. That experience was embedded deeply in my mind. When I started practicing, I worked a lot on financial crisis cases. These cases dealt with Security Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement actions, people who had lost their businesses and were trying to raise capital to survive, and more.
After practicing for about seven or eight years, I made partner at a New York City firm. I asked multiple clients, ‘what’s important for you to ensure your lawyer understands?’ So many clients expressed they wanted someone who understands business, who understands debt on their company vs. equity on the company, how to raise capital, how to scale, and how these legal issues affect them. I decided I wanted to distinguish myself. I wanted to understand my clients’ businesses better. I wanted to understand the financial markets and how those finances would affect a company. These concepts apply to all companies from initial startup stage, to midstage and eventually the exit phase for mergers and acquisitions.
I believed then, as I do to this day, that earning the MBA would allow me to understand all the factors relevant to entrepreneurs’ daily concerns. With that, I would bring a different viewpoint to the practice of law. Rather than billing by the hour and getting paid to do legal work that one would do without understanding the role picture, I believe it has helped me better understand clients’ businesses and being able to tailor legal advice accordingly.
Watch the video below to enjoy the entire conversation:
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