October 1, 2018
“My M&A Lawyer Can Beat Up Your M&A Lawyer”
Lawyers are a pretty diverse group when it comes to their hobbies – I’ve known chess players, rare book collectors, gourmet cooks, singers, musicians & actors in addition to the usual collection of aging male & female jocks. But I’ve got to say, I’ve never come across a hobby that’s quite like the one that Fredrikson & Byron’s Zach Olson enjoys.
What’s Zach do? He’s a professional wrestler! This Minn./St. Paul Business Journal article explains:
Zach Olson is a practicing attorney at Fredrikson & Byron during the day. At night, he’s practicing body slams as a wrestler. About 18 months ago he started training at The Academy: School of Professional Wrestling in Minneapolis, which is owned by former WWE wrestler Ken Anderson. Olson is now performing his best impersonations of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant at local wrestling matches.
Lots of people try their hand at wrestling, but how many are attorneys working on complex mergers and acquisitions? Not many. Olson recently worked for Bio-Techne Corp. on its acquisition of Exosome Diagnostics for $250 million.
Zach’s wrestling name is E. Sylvester Quinton IV – or “ESQ” – because of course it is!
ESQ bills himself as “the finest legal mind of his generation.” Obviously, I can’t vouch for that, but he’s definitely become one of my personal heroes. After all, what M&A lawyer hasn’t fantasized from time-to-time about suplexing the jerk sitting across the negotiating table? This guy can actually do it!
– John Jenkins