Today was blocked out for all-day negotiations on a European manufacturing/distribution deal that I’ve been working on for the past year for a major pharmaceutical company.  Our client had flown in from the Midwest, our counterparties from the South, and we had conference rooms reserved for the long haul (not long haul like we did in December for the Dodgers deal — we weren’t planning to move into the conference rooms for the next month — just long haul for the day). 

And then discussions ended at 3:30pm.  Wahoo!

Only our clients’ plane didn’t leave until 10:00pm.  What to do? 

What to do, indeed.  Within ten minutes I had . . .

1. Made reservations for mid-afternoon dessert at Del Frisco’s Grille (because they’ve got a killer coconut cream pie, and Ed had just been lamenting how hard it is to find good coconut cream pie);
2. Arranged for a private tour of the National Portrait Gallery with the gallery’s resident historian (because the first thing Joe said when he realized he had an open afternoon was “I’d love to see the Portrait Gallery”);
3. Secured the firm’s suite at Nationals park for tonight’s game (because Tom is a die-hard baseball fan); and
4. Made reservations for dinner at J&G Steakhouse (because it’s Joe’s favorite steakhouse in DC, and because it’s next to the White House, which I knew Tom really wanted to see).

The only thing that ended up not working out was the baseball game — the group decided it started too late and didn’t want to risk missing their flights.  But everything else worked out perfectly.  The gallery tour, in particular, was an enormous hit (all thanks to the quick work and generosity of my friend Jennifer who made it happen!).  By the time we had finished dinner, everyone was happy and smiling and pleased with the day. 

On the way back to the office the partner expressed amazement at my ability to throw together such a great afternoon so quickly.  My response:  Hey, I’ve told you before that I’m the one you want on your team.  There’s a lot more to me than drafting contracts.