GC Influencers
Most Influential GCs - Global-wide
David R McAtee of AT&T, Inc
Among 2018’s most challenging legal endeavours in the business world was the completion of AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, which began with a USD85 billion bid in 2016 and featured a highly publicised antitrust battle against the Department of Justice, culminating in an appellate victory for AT&T denying the Department’s attempts to enjoin the merger. In charge of this daunting task was AT&T general counsel David McAtee, who joined the Dallas-headquartered company in 2012 after a 16-year private practice career with Haynes and Boone, rising the general counsel’s position in 2015. Commentators credit his “inspirational leadership” and “wealth and depth of experience as a trial lawyer” for his role in bringing about a successful conclusion to the deal, while also applauding his “fearlessness in deciding to take on the Justice Department and try the case.” McAtee also chairs the AT&T Foundation, its philanthropic organisation which plays a key role in supporting education, and also devotes a significant part of his time to pro-bono work, particularly with regards to veterans’ rights issues. Most notably, he and the legal team partner with law firm Akin Gump to sponsor a fellowship program designed to aid veterans’ access to benefits after having wrongly received Other Than Honourable discharge statuses due to PTSD or brain injury. Sources add: “He has a very unique intuition in knowing the right thing to say and do at all times, it’s a little uncanny. He really instils confidence with both what he’s saying and where he’s headed – every time he picks a path, he makes everyone feel more confident about the way forwards.”