# A View From The Top Of The M&A World: David Lam

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/original-jurisdiction-5705421/a-view-from-the-top-of-the-m-a-world-david-lam
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/original-jurisdiction-5705421/a-view-from-the-top-of-the-m-a-world-david-lam.md
Podcast: [Original Jurisdiction](https://stenobird.com/podcast/original-jurisdiction-5705421)
Published: 2025-08-20T17:21:20+00:00
Episode link: https://davidlat.substack.com/p/david-lam-chair-mergers-acquisitions-m-and-a-wachtell-lipton-rosen-katz-wlrk
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/171338599/667b01a5aeda6785836616fd654a10f5.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/original-jurisdiction-5705421/episodes/a-view-from-the-top-of-the-m-a-world-david-lam
Duration seconds: 2732

## Resource

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit davidlat.substack.com One question I frequently receive, as a lawyer turned writer, is whether I miss the practice of law. My honest answer is no. In my current job, I feel I get some of the best aspects of a legal career, such as the intellectual stimulation and challenge, without the worst ones, such as billable hours (or, for those lawyers who don’t bill time, the stress of being in a client-focused business). But what if I had stayed in the practice of law? And what if I had remained at the firm where I started my post-clerkship legal career, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz? And while I’m taking an imaginary trip down the road not taken, what if I had gone into corporate or transactional work, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), instead of litigation? If you changed a few other things about me—e.g., if you raised my IQ and ability to tolerate stress, while lowering my laziness—maybe I’d have a legal career like that of David Lam. We have a number of things in common. After graduating from fancy colleges, we went straight through to Yale Law School, where we overlapped. Following clerkships for prominent federal appellate judges, we started our careers at Wachtell Lipton, where we were sometimes confused with each other (based on our similar names and certain demographic similarities). I left WLRK after a few years, while David Lam stayed—and went on to a spectacular legal career. He’s now one of the country’s top M&A lawyers, according to The American Lawyer, Chambers, Lawdragon, and many other authorities. He’s also co-chair of the M&A practice at Wachtell Lipton, viewed by many as the nation’s #1 firm for mergers and acquisitions. Wachtell Lipton partners don’t give many interviews…

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