2020 Legal Elite — Business Law Profile

Title: Special counsel
Other legal specialties: Corporate governance
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Yale University; law degree, University of Virginia
Spouse: Louanna Godwin Goolsby
Children: Adelaide Rawles Goolsby
First job as a lawyer: Associate, Hunton Williams Gay Powell & Gibson, in 1968 for a salary of $9,600
Fan of: U.Va. basketball coach Tony Bennett
Recently read book: “John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court,” by Richard Brookhiser
Career mentors: Justice Lewis Powell, Joseph C. Carter
What will the legal environment look like for businesses during and following the pandemic?
Businesses in the public spotlight are witnessing a sea change as to what constitutes a proper corporate purpose. The traditional focus on creation of long-term shareholder value is being attacked by proponents of environmental and social objectives demanding a greater focus on those objectives and on the interests of employees and other constituencies.
What trends are you seeing in merger and acquisition cases?
The rapidly changing, unpredictable global world we live in has triggered lots of attention on, and litigation associated with, the identification of the circumstances in which a party to a transaction can, between signing and closing, walk away from the agreement.

See more from our 2020 Legal Elite package:

• 2020 Legal Elite: Business Law list
• The 21st edition of the Virginia Business Legal Elite

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.