This guidebook, written by seasoned M&A practitioners, will help lawyers work faster and smarter, meeting the demands of increasingly sophisticated clients and keeping pace with today's dynamic legal marketplace. As a practical resource, this guide contains essential tools that deal lawyers can consult, customize, and adapt as they effectively scope, plan, manage, and execute M&A transactions. Deal velocity continues to accelerate as a result of advances in technology, instant communication and virtual due diligence and closings. To respond to this velocity in the deal cycle and increasing demands for predictability of legal costs in transactional matters, this resource provides lawyers with tools to help meet such demands, without overlooking important matters or otherwise compromising the quality of legal service you provide. Organized by three deal phases, namely PreDeal," Deal," and Post-Closing," and by user, be it the client, the law firm, or the opposing counsel, this guidebook includes: * A menu of alternative fee arrangements for M&A deals, tools for conducting post matter assessments and a set of suggested M&A billing codes* Valuable guidance on using legal practice management in your firm to increase organizational and communications framework that enables law firms and in-house counsel to better plan, manage, and execute M&A transactions* A companion website available to purchasers to keep you updated on this evolving area of the M&A law practice* Downloadable checklists, forms and tools, including two billing tools, you can customize to implement legal project management in your M&A practice