20 Merger 3

Ci-ci laughed. "Old man Grant, the day you find someone who can wipe the floor with me is the day I'll let you be my father-in-law."

"Watch that smart mouth, little brat. My daughter is happily married, and even if she wasn't, she could do much better than a playboy like you."

"Why'd you take so long to call me down here?"

"You still have the balls to say that? I shouldn't have to call you into your own office. The moment you lose your first case, and trust me, you will lose eventually, no one is going to tolerate this anymore."

"How about we revisit that when I lose, then?" Ci-ci smiled a carefree smile. "Still. This is a Prime Client, so I know very little about their portfolio. What do you need me for?"

It was obvious that they wouldn't allow mere associates to handle the cases of Prime Clients. For their most important clientele, it was handled by their very best.

That said, law clerks and associates did have a role in those trials, but it was more so for fact checking and doing the leg work like delivering subpoenas. Obviously, since Ci-ci didn't normally come in except for when he accepted a case, he wouldn't have anything to do with that sort of writ of passage. Of course, this led to a lot of dissatisfaction, but he didn't have any obligation to care about that.

"What if I just called you here to do some leg work?"

"Alright. It's been nice seeing you old man." Ci-ci turned, waving as he walked toward the glass door.

"Take another step and you're fired."

Ci-ci swiveled and seamlessly fell into an empty couch. "Stop joking around."

"They're doing a mixed conglomerate merger, I hope your air filled head understands what that means?"

"Of course. Lewis and Clark and Simple are technically separate, one being a strictly research and lab based venture while the other is a pharmacy that doubles as a corner store. Their merger is a mixed conglomerate because their fields overlap, but only partially.

"I assume Simple benefits from this by gaining exclusive rights to Lewis and Clark medicinal formulas, with the potential of selling off brand versions to their competitors. While Lewis and Clark benefit by gaining solid backing for the research as well as a prolonged contract."

In this day and age, research fields were highly competitive, especially with the existence of Inventors. Although Lewis and Clark had a reputable reputation, they still had to compete with other research groups for market share. Having a franchise like Simple at their back eliminated this worry, after all, Simple had dozens of locations across the continent and a decently sized customer base. Obviously, both of them benefitted.

"At least your brain isn't filled with sludge."

"That still doesn't explain my role in all of this."

Mr. Grant sighed. "Such a merger has massive implications and obviously a very high ceiling. However, it's hard to choose between our two firms.

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"Both Patterson and Gravelle along with Clarke and Buffett are middle rung firms with solid foundations. There truly isn't much difference between the two of us.

"The new conglomerate also thought of maybe hiring a high rung firm instead, however, those uppity firms don't accept Prime Clients of their level, and, for obvious reasons, the conglomerate isn't willing to accept a lower tier client privilege ranking."

"So they want to decide based on our firm's ability to grow into the future so they can pick the firm with the highest chance to enter the ranks of a high rung firm." Ci-ci guessed. "Basically, you're calling me here to save your asses because those pitiful peers of mine would get their asses handed to them by the Junior and Senior Associates of Clarke and Buffett."

"Other than you, Little Gravelle and Little Patterson, this generation of our firm is hopeless."

"Oh? Did they graduate?"

"Mm. They've been taking on a lot of pro bono work to increase their experience, so they haven't taken on any official firm tasks yet. Not that you'd know anyway, you're never here. For all you care, they could have graduated years ago."

Ci-ci shrugged. "There are plenty of other legacy lawyers here, are they really so bad?"

"They're already too old. Little Graham and Little Minshew were promoted to Junior Partner last year, while Little Forne and Little Yelder are already Senior Partners. They can't participate."

Legacy lawyers were more of an unofficial title for the firm reserved by the descendants of past Managing Partners. Usually their sons and daughters, or grandsons and granddaughters.

Little Gravelle was a young man whose actual name was Jason. He attended the 22nd ranked University of the continent along with Little Patterson who was the young miss of the firm, known as Isabella.

After managing to attend such a high-ranking university, they had obviously become the beacons of the firm. Of course, Mr. Grant was well aware that Ci-ci had attended Grandbell University, the absolute number one ranked, but since Ci-ci didn't advertise it, he wouldn't either. In fact, he was more confused about why someone with Ci-ci's credentials would even come here… But, since his results were so outstanding, who would say anything?

Ci-ci nodded. "Then how are they testing us? This isn't so simple old man."

Mr. Grant nodded solemnly. "Even if I was beaten to death I would never believe that Simple didn't have a hand in what's been happening for the past few months."

"Speaking of which, my very first case was a pro bono case against Simple. I made them fork over quite a bit to settle that quietly."

"Then you already know that Clarke and Buffett have a vendetta against you, as if they didn't have enough of a vested interest in winning…" Mr. Grant finally looked up from his pile of papers. "The battlefield is this merger case. Your job is to secure the best possible terms for Lewis and Clark. The Counsels of both our firms will decide the ultimate winner with a special guest as the overseeing judicator."

"Special guest? Who?"

"I hear that the Alleman family has gotten involved."