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Dealmakers
A look at three of the region's innovative attorney dealmakers
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Business New Haven
5/13/2002
By: Linda Mele
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Dealmakers. You know them. They're the attorneys who are always on the move and have their hands in many pies at once.
They don't sit back and watch the grass grow. They turn a bunch of independent grass cutters into a consortium of first class landscapers and let them mow their grass as a favor for putting the deal together.
Or, they take an outdated factory building that's been vacant for years and turn it into shops and studio apartments for artists or loft condos.
The reasons lawyers specialize in “deal making” as opposed to other forms of law are varied.
“Litigation, although at times a necessary evil, focuses on argument and hostility,” says New Haven attorney Christine Barker of Siegel O'Connor Zangari O'Donnell & Beck.
“Even with victory, litigation can leave a client worse for the wear and short of its goal. I far prefer the challenge of bringing people together to find common ground to reach their respective goals,” Barker says.
“As a dealmaker, I am able to bring people together through creative negotiations and problem solving. My belief is that common ground can be found in any deal if you are willing, able and open to thinking outside of the box.”
“The challenge,” says Barker, “comes in balancing the varying interests and managing the personalities to find that common ground.”
Attorney Frank Zullo of Norwalk is considered by many of his fellow barristers the “ultimate dealmaker.” While he is located in Norwalk he works on projects throughout the state. He was Stew Leonard's attorney for a proposed 50-acre project on Marsh Hill Road in Orange.
While he didn't “win” that uphill battle, he didn't leave any stone unturned in his quest to get the deal out of park and into drive either.
James Segaloff, former legal partner of former U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, says he gets a lot of “enjoyment and sense of accomplishment in creating something of value to the client and, at times, to the community.”
“For example, representing a client who has developed a piece of real estate. I am presently working on a very significant potential retail real estate development project in New Haven. If it comes to fruition and as a result, New Haven and shoppers benefit, I will feel a sense of personal joy. I will of course also be delighted that I was able to accomplish the task assigned to me by my client,” Segaloff says.
“As trite as it may sound, my credo has always been that there is more than one way to skin a cat. If you hit a roadblock in a deal, step back, look around and find a different road. If you can't find that road, you shouldn't be a dealmaker,” Barker says.
Name: James Segaloff
Age: 58
Office: Susman Duffy & Segaloff PC, 55 Whitney Avenue, New Haven; he has been the managing partner for approx. 15 years.
Residence: New Haven
Personal: Married for 35 years, two children: a daughter who lives and works in New York and a son who is an attorney.
Education: Graduated from Syracuse University in 1965 and the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1968. Attended New Haven's Hillhouse High School.
First Job: In 1968 with Greenberg, Hurwitz and Licari in New Haven. In 1972 I left that practice and formed a practice with Ted Baldwin, former corporation counsel for the City of New Haven and presently a judge, and Lieberman, who was a state senator at the time. The firm was known as Baldwin Lieberman and Segaloff. Ted moved on to work for a corporate client and [Leiberman] and I were together until approximately 1983.
Why Law: I enjoy communicating and interacting with people, identifying and reflecting upon issues and developing a logical and meaningful approach to resolve them.
Last Book Read: “Irrational Exuberance” by Professor Robert Shiller of Yale University, a friend and a client.
Favorite Television Show: CNN News
Hobbies: rowing and running. I have been a coxswain and competed all over the world. A coxswain is the person who sits in the back of those large rowing shells, steers the boat, instructs the oarsmen and tries to motivate them to row harder. I have been involved in this sport for 40 years and presently compete in Masters Events for the New Haven Rowing Club. As the proud father, I must add that my son also was a coxswain for the United States team and competed in the Olympics in 1996. I do believe that my role as a coxswain has been useful in my practice. In any deal, one must try ultimately to get all the issues resolved and all the parties on board.
Motivating and attempting to have eight oarsmen row together and make every effort to win a race is in some respect similar to getting all the lawyers and all the clients to “pull their hardest” to conclude a deal.
Quote of the Day: “Nothing is great or small, but by comparison.”
What Would You Do If You Could No Longer Practice Law?: I would become a “professional” coxswain (no opportunities there) and a full-time grandfather to my grandson and future grandchildren.
What is the Biggest Deal You Have Ever Put Together?: It was in excess of $500 million involving the sale of nursing homes.
Name: Frank Zullo
Age: 69
Office: Norwalk
Residence: Norwalk
Personal: Married 44 years, one daughter
Education: graduated from Fordham College with a BS in 1954; received a JD from Fordham Law School in 1957
First Job?: Prior to becoming a lawyer, he spent most of his time in aquatic programs and as a musician. He joined the Musicians Union when he was 15.
Other than his own partnership, he was appointed prosecutor for the Norwalk City Court in 1959 and taught criminal law at Norwalk Community College. He was elected mayor of the city of Norwalk in 1965 at the age of 33, the youngest and first Italian-American to hold that position for three terms before deciding not to pursue a fourth term.
Worked with former New Haven Mayor Richard Lee to form the Connecticut Conference of Mayors and has been an active member of the Democratic Party throughout the state.
Why Law?: From my earliest days, I always wanted to be a lawyer. I guess I felt it was a profession where someone could make a difference.
Why Deal Making?: For the first few years of my practice, I was a general practitioner. Today, together with medical law…I enjoy these areas of the law and have been reasonably successful in their pursuits.
Last Book Read: “Jack Straight from the Gut” by Jack Walsh
Hobbies: music
Quote of the Day: “You can call a dog's tail its leg, but he still only has four legs.”
If You Could No Longer Practice Law, What Would You Do?: Probably get out my trumpet and join some local community music group.
What is the Largest Deal You Have Put Together or Had a Hand In?: I am currently part of two development teams that are engaged in two significant projects, each of which will involve in excess of $225,000,000.
Name: Christine Barker
Age: 42
Primary Office: New Haven
Other Firm Office: Hartford
Residence: New Haven
Personal: Married four years, no children
Education: Southern Connecticut State University - B.S., 1983; Detroit College of Law, Michigan State University - Juris.Doctor Cum Laude, 1987; New York University Law School LL.M., 1990
First Job: Non-legal - Six years old, bailing out row boats at Shorty Hooks in West Bloomfield, MI. I negotiated my compensation package at ten cents a boat and all the candy I could eat. Legal - Litigation attorney with Kummer Knox & Naughton in Parsippany, NJ 1987
Why law: I enjoy people and solving their problems. The law gives me the opportunity and tools to do that.
Why Deal Making?: Finding the common bond that brings people together “takes persistence, confidence, sometimes a little patience and, most importantly, an understanding of the parties, their business and their end goals.”
Last Book Read: My reading tastes are rather eclectic. Recent reads include “Possession” by A.S. Byatt and “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Tracy Cevalier. I just finished it, and very much enjoyed “Intepreter of Maladies,” a collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri that track the lives of several American immigrants.
Favorite Television Show: Sunday morning political analysis programs such as Face the Nation and Meet the Press.
Hobbies: Writing fiction, bicycling, reading.
Quote of the Day: “It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.” A.N. Whitehead; and “A long dispute means that both parties are wrong,” Voltaire
If You Could No Longer Practice Law, What Would you Do?: Private investment banking because they also work to put deals together. I love doing deals and this would permit me to continue down that path.
What is the Largest Deal You Have Put Together or Had a Hand in Putting Together? $70.0 Million. I generally represent middle-market privately held companies that are seeking an exit strategy or growth opportunities. My deals vary in size and sophistication. In a typical year I may have my hand in any number of deals starting from $500,000 and up. We usually are involved in several deals a year in the $10 million to $70 million range. However, each deal is unique and the decision to undertake them is driven less by the dollar size of the deal and more because of its nature and issues.
Most of our business comes through referrals from other professionals either because they have a difficult client and/or a client with a difficult situation. Often times they are clients from a specialized industry that requires the existence or development of unique industry knowledge. Our success comes from knowing and understanding the client and its industry. In the last few years we have seen many deals come in from the catalog, direct mail and publishing industries. We have also been the recent source for referral on a number of shareholder disputes and split ups of family owned businesses. This is an area where emotions run high and the challenge of finding common ground and shared ends make our practice intense and very interesting.
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