Anna Tang
Anna represents and advises emerging and established companies as transactional and general corporate counsel with respect to a wide variety of business transactions including mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions and corporate governance. Having begun her career as a corporate and tax attorney at a top 20 law firm in Australia, Anna has expertise in assisting clients with commercial matters and tax effective structures for Australian investment and activities, and advising multinational and foreign clients on Australian and international commercial and taxation issues.
What is your proudest professional moment so far?
I have a couple of proud professional moments. The first would be passing the California bar and becoming a lawyer in two countries – Australia (Victoria and New South Wales) and the US (California). Second would be my involvement in counselling a Big 6 accounting firm on its restructure and expansion in Australia and acting as lead counsel on a $161 million acquisition of a physician owned hospital in Oklahoma City. And, of course, being elevated to Partner this year!
Do you have any interesting talents or hobbies?
I speak three Chinese dialects (Mandarin, Cantonese and Teochew). I can also read Chinese and am conversational in French. I enjoy hiking – I have hiked through parts of Australia and Asia (Mongolia and Nepal). I also enjoy photography, especially when coupled with travelling.
What do you love about your work?
Lots – being a corporate attorney, I enjoy learning about all the aspects of my client’s business (they range from healthcare/ambulatory surgical centers, real estate developers to appraisal management companies), and I am generally curious about what keeps my clients up at night. I enjoy negotiating a transaction and drafting agreements to get the best deal possible for my clients.
David Graeler
David brings more than 20 years of litigation and trial experience – representing both plaintiffs and defendants – to his engagements. He excels at partnering with clients to identify their goals and to develop and execute winning strategies to effectively resolve complex business disputes both inside and outside the courtroom. Through the development of his civil trial practice, he has honed his ability to communicate and connect with judges and juries, as well as with clients, witnesses, and other attorneys. David serves as Nossaman’s Managing Partner.
Why did you decide to become a lawyer?
There are two reasons I decided to become a lawyer. The first major influence occurred when I was a child. My dad was involved in a complex business deal with two larger companies. He had identified the opportunity, introduced the two other companies to each other, and largely orchestrated the deal. After significant time, effort, and expense, the two larger companies decided to cut my dad out and do the deal without his business. This resulted in expensive and significant litigation. I saw the impact it had on my dad both personally and professionally. This was especially true because it was apparent that his lawyer was not well suited for the matter and it ultimately resulted in my dad losing his business. This left quite an impression on me, and made me appreciate the importance of being a strong advocate for a client. I’ve heard of situations where people have decided to pursue a career in medicine due to a health-related tragedy that occurred to someone close to them when they were children. I suppose the same could be said for me with respect to the law.
The second driving force is that I’ve always enjoyed strategic competition. Throughout my youth and into college, I played baseball at a fairly high-level. I loved the competition and the camaraderie that came with playing a team sport. After my playing days ended and I was deciding upon my legal path, I discovered that high stakes litigation/trial work enabled me to experience the same type of competitive platform, camaraderie and opportunity for teamwork that baseball offered to me. And there’s far greater longevity without the risk of blowing out a shoulder!
Do you have any interesting talents or hobbies?
I’ve coached my son’s little league team for the past several seasons and I coached my daughter’s softball team before that. I’ve found it incredibly rewarding to work with the kids on my teams and to teach them not only about the fundamentals of the sport, but also the right way to compete, and the all-important aspect of having fun. Other than that, having a busy practice and a family with two kids unfortunately limits my time for many hobbies. I do find it important to take some time for myself to exercise regularly.
What might people be surprised to learn about you?
That my mother was Chinese, my father is Jewish, and that I was born in Tokyo, Japan. I spent my first four years of my life there and still have family in Japan and China (I still speak/understand a little bit of Japanese). I think this has given me a different perspective on people because I grew up not fully identifying with a particular ethnicity. In fact, I found that many Caucasian children would tease me for being Asian, and many Asian children would tease me for being Caucasian. I was also frequently asked by children and adults throughout my childhood, what are you? This was incredibly difficult growing up because children generally just want to fit in. Over time, this became a source of great strength and I now find that I have an ability to empathize and relate to a wide variety of people.