Gary M. Lawrence is a prominent authority on due diligence in corporate and financial transactions including those involving underwriters, officers, directors, investment advisors, and stewards. Mr. Lawrence has testified in numerous high-profile matters related to securities offerings, mergers, acquisitions, financial services, and business investments across a wide range of industries. He has taught, advised, practiced, and published widely in the field. Mr. Lawrence’s two-volume treatise, Due Diligence in Business Transactions, has served as a leading reference in the field for more than two decades. In addition, he is the author of Due Diligence: Investigation, Reliance and Verification; Due Diligence: Law, Standards and Practice; Due Diligence, a Scholarly Study; and the coauthor of Representing High-Tech Companies.
In his research, Mr. Lawrence analyzes the business and operational, legal and regulatory, and financial and accounting contexts in which due diligence is conducted. Mr. Lawrence’s academic work has been cited authoritatively in filings before the U.S. Supreme Court and by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He has also advised the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr. Lawrence is executive chairman of Pacific Financial Group. He serves as a member of the adjunct faculty of the Dedman School of Law of Southern Methodist University, where he teaches advanced due diligence studies to postgraduate students. He also founded and directs the Center for Advanced Due Diligence Studies, an independent nonprofit research organization devoted to the study of transactional due diligence and related investment practices, governance, and ethics.
Previously, Mr. Lawrence was a global managing partner with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. He has served on boards of directors and committees of public, private, educational, and charitable organizations.