In an interview with Texas Lawbook, Corporate partner Victor B. Zanetti looked back over his life and career, from his childhood in northeast Indiana and wrestling for Notre Dame, to surviving brain cancer and building a book of business despite firm dissolutions, moves and mergers.
Vic explained how he became the go-to attorney for Trinity Hunt Partners. The relationship with the Dallas-based Private Equity Firm began at his first law firm which handled all the legal work for the "first family" of HL Hunt, including the Lamar Hunt family. Vic estimates he has handled more than 100 deals for Trinity Hunt Partners, including more than 20 deals in 2021.
When that firm dissolved, legal work for the Lamar Hunt family and Trinity Hunt Partners went with Vic to his next firm, the next one after that and so on. In addition, Vic is now only the third person to serve as the Trustee of the Arrowhead Sports Trusts, which control the Kansas City Chiefs and major league soccer franchise FC Dallas. The first two Trustees were also long-time employees of various family owned entities, while Vic is merely an out-side attorney/family advisor.
Vic also commented on the fluid nature of law practice in Texas and how M&A practice has changed dramatically over the course of his career. "Originally most deals were $5 million or less and clients were clients of the law firm (not necessarily the individual lawyers in those law firms)," he told Texas Lawbook. "Now the transactions are much larger and clients hire attorneys not law firms."
As for the Texas legal market, he said, "No one changed law firms when I first started in 1983 and now it is like musical chairs. I do not know how it will change. I am sure it will continue to be much more fluid with people working more from home."
Asked about what he learned from his diagnosis of brain cancer at age 50, Vic said he learned to never miss important milestones with his family. "After that experience, I never missed a dance recital or a soccer game – those were precious moments," he said.
"Vic Zanetti: Quarterbacking for the Hunts from the Sidelines," Texas Lawbook, February 11, 2022
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