Suits: A Lawyer Surviving TV Chaos

At 9:45 a.m., Mr. Carl Fisk the owner of Fisk Hotel, appeared in the conference room of Pearson Hardman law firm.

Although Jessica, his personal legal advisor and close friend, didn't have time to handle his case, she still made time to visit the conference room to chat with him out of respect and to maintain their friendship.

After all, she had handed over the case to Martin, but he had broken his promise last time due to the Facebook matter, only arranging for an associate lawyer to temporarily step in. No matter how you looked at it, it was somewhat impolite.

As the big boss of the firm, Jessica had the responsibility to clean up after her subordinates.

Five minutes before 10 a.m., Martin rushed into the conference room just in time to see the two chatting happily.

Knowing well that the two were close friends, Martin used humor to ease the awkwardness of meeting Fisk for the first time: "Jessica, I know missing our appointment last time made you lose face in front of Mr. Fisk, but there's really no need to spank my butt in front of him."

The seasoned businesswoman Jessica immediately understood, inwardly admiring this subordinate's sharp wit while not forgetting to continue the banter.

"Martin, you've made another mistake. Spanking makes me feel like I'm your mother's age." "Maybe deducting your bonus would be a better choice?"

After teasing her key subordinate, Jessica turned to Carl Fisk: "This is Martin Scott, a somewhat unruly but highly capable guy."

Carl Fisk, in his forties, showed no sign of dissatisfaction from being stood up last time. Instead, he shook hands with Martin with a smile.

"I know him; I saw him on financial news last time—Facebook and Microsoft, right? That was a deal that attracted a lot of attention in the business world."

"Jessica, geniuses are always a bit unruly, and it's precisely because of this that they can achieve what ordinary people cannot, right?"

Successful elders always liked to show their fondness and support for the young.

It wasn't that they truly cared about the young; it was just that such gestures, which cost nothing, were incredibly cost-effective!

Only nouveau riche would care so much about their faces.

Jessica felt completely relieved: "Carl, although you're willing to speak on his behalf, mistakes still need to be punished."

"How about letting him bring a bottle of Bordeaux wine to the celebration dinner afterward? I remember that's your favorite."

After months of familiarity, Martin and Jessica had developed basic mutual understanding.

"1992 vintage Lagrille, produced by the Savvy vineyard in southern Bordeaux! I will personally get it for Mr. Fisk."

Everyone knows Bordeaux's Lafite, but few know about Lagrille wine.

This wine wasn't particularly expensive. Even in a great year like 1992, a bottle cost only about three hundred dollars, far from the so-called "1982 Lafite" or "million-dollar Romanée-Conti."

However, after wines like Lafite and Ace of Spades were excessively exposed and hyped in public, true top-tier banquets had long blacklisted these wines.

What do those who consider themselves upper class pursue?

They pursue sophistication! They pursue things that others haven't even heard of! A million-dollar bottle of wine? It seems like anyone can afford it.

How could someone from "old money" be like those nouveau riche, chasing whatever's trendy? Wouldn't that lower their status?

Therefore, the bottle of Lagrille wine Martin offered, though not expensive, with over a decade of cellar aging and an exclusive elite brand concept, perfectly tickled the fancy of someone like Fisk, who considered himself part of high society.

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After successfully resolving any potential issues from the missed appointment last time, Jessica gracefully exited, leaving the conference room to Martin and Carl.

Although Carl Fisk was an annual fee-paying client of the firm and this legal consultation didn't require hourly billing, Martin didn't want to waste time on unrelated topics like football and celebrity gossip. As soon as he sat down, he waved to someone outside.

Rachel, who had been waiting outside, walked in holding a thick folder.

"After communicating with you last time, my assistant flew to Los Angeles overnight to relay your requirements exactly as instructed."

Although Priya went to Los Angeles mainly to take over as Facebook's legal counsel and had little thought or opportunity to mention this merger case, it didn't stop Martin from using a white lie to demonstrate his importance placed on Fisk.

"These documents are the due diligence we conducted with KPMG accounting firm these days, including operational and financial data of Fisk Hotel and the acquisition target, French Morley Hotel."

"My God!"

Carl Fisk couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at the dictionary-thick folder on the conference table: "How much time do I have to read through all these files?"

"Of course not; I don't want to waste a billionaire's precious time."

Martin smiled and shook his head: "Those are just backups, so I can find relevant data and investigation content whenever you have questions."

"Although my photographic memory doesn't actually need them, ears are never as reliable as eyes, right?"

He then took out a sheet of A4 paper from the folder in front of him and handed it over: "This is what you need to confirm. It contains the most critical data and a summary of the merger strategy from that pile of folders."

"I love summaries; they always save me a lot of time!"

Carl Fisk sighed in relief, took the document, and started reading it bit by bit.

Fisk Hotel had thirty-one chain hotels in North America, and the market potential in this region was already limited.

In recent years, Carl Fisk had been thinking about expanding the business to Europe. After some exploration, the small but historic Morley Hotel caught his eye.

This brand had only nine chain hotels in a few major cities in France and Germany. In terms of scale, it was much smaller than Fisk Hotel.

However, the majority shareholder, the Morley family, had nearly a century of hotel operation experience and extensive connections and a good reputation in the European hotel industry.

This was exactly the resource Carl Fisk needed most right now!

One wanted to use the Morley family's connections to enter Europe, and the other wanted Fisk's capital to further expand the family business. The founding families of the two hotel brands hit it off and began the prelude to this merger.

Since it was a merger, the key issue was the shareholding ratio of both parties in the newly formed cooperative hotel management company!

How much assets each party would contribute to the new company, how many new hotels they planned to build, whether to use the Morley family's connections to capture the European tourism market, etc., were all crucial factors affecting the shareholding ratio in the new company.

Such cross-border mergers involving tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars weren't easily concluded, especially in traditional industries like the hotel industry, which required large investments and had slow return cycles. Both parties were always extra cautious before deciding to cooperate.

Martin wouldn't be surprised if this case took one or two years to negotiate.

Since it was the first meeting with the client, Martin didn't offer a concrete merger plan, just allowing Carl Fisk to have a clear and intuitive understanding of Morley Hotel and a basic concept for the upcoming negotiations.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting passed quickly amid discussions and Q&A.

Before leaving, Fisk suddenly mentioned the most common and troublesome issue in merger cases.

"If the cooperation succeeds, what do you think the new hotel should be called—Fisk Morley or Morley Fisk?"

Martin showed a somewhat conflicted expression for the first time today.

After pondering for a moment, Martin helplessly shook his head: "Carl, I think we should solve the other issues first and slowly consider this later."

"After all, the story of Mercedes-Benz is just an exception and has no reference value."

"Have a cupcake; it can replenish the energy consumed by the brain after that high-speed consumption. My good friend made them by hand."

patreon.com/thebigbang007 (coffee??)

(End of Chapter)