M&A Trends, Private Equity Shifts, and the Discipline Behind Successful Deals with Michael Weis of Weis Burney, LLC 3-19-26

Summary

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Episode Summary: M&A Trends, Private Equity Shifts, and the Discipline Behind Successful Deals

Podcast: Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Host: Scott Becker
Guest: Michael Weis, Weis Burney, LLC
Date: March 19, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this insightful episode, Scott Becker sits down with veteran transactional lawyer Michael Weis to discuss the evolving landscape of mergers & acquisitions (M&A), shifts in private equity and private credit, and the key personal disciplines underpinning success in business and law. Weis shares first-hand observations from decades of experience, current trends shaping dealmaking, and his guidance for emerging leaders and lawyers navigating today's complex business environment.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Michael Weis’s Background & Practice Focus

[00:24 - 02:12]

• Michael Weis introduces his 37-year career, with a foundation in accounting (CPA) and deep immersion in business transactional law.
• Weis Burney, LLC specializes in corporate law, especially M&A, acting as general counsel and covering commercial real estate.
• Their work is cross-industry (healthcare, logistics, tech, and more) and national/international in scope.
• Weis highlights that while they sometimes collaborate with specialists (e.g., for IP or litigation), his core focus is on transactional excellence.

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2. Trends in M&A and the Business Environment

[02:26 - 06:51]

• Capital Access & Private Credit:
  • There’s a “lot of capital out there,” but clients face a changing landscape in accessing it.
  • Private credit has “really jumped up in the last five to 10 years,” offering alternatives to traditional bank lending as banks focus more on wealth management.
• Private Equity Shifts:
  • The sector has seen explosive growth, but “there’s really winners and losers.”
  • “Larger PEs seem to be doing well...smaller PEs or the not niche provider PEs are struggling either to get capital [or] it’s expensive to run a PE shop.”
  • Weis notes scrutiny on returns, investor demands, and observed that “publicly traded private equity groups are generally down this year.”
• Valuation Disconnect:
  • Increasing difficulty in buyer and seller agreement on valuation, referencing high-profile media mergers (e.g., Netflix, Paramount, Warner Brothers) as a parallel to lower/middle-market deals.
• Deal Process & Speed:
  • “People trying to shortcut the process” is a noticeable trend, driven by the speed of information flow.
  • Weis warns against this, stating:

    “When either side, buy side, sell side, or investment side, tries to shortcut a process, doesn't work and problems come up.” (06:25)

  • Stresses the necessity of “steady, stable, professional, disciplined” legal counsel and the importance of not rushing diligence.

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3. Private Credit and Private Equity: Risks & Resilience

[06:51 - 09:54]

• Private Credit Underwriting:
  • Initially marketed on speed/efficiency, “private credit is really no different” from commercial lending in terms of risk tolerance.
  • There’s a recognition that “there’s a flood of capital out there, but it’s got to be used correctly and efficiently.”
• Model Tweaks & Economic Resilience:
  • Weis on the U.S. system:

    “The resilience when we feel like we’re on the brink of a problem...things seem to always work out and adjust or get delayed and there’s a short correction span.” (09:11)

• Predicts private credit and equity are “here to stay”—but business models are adapting to current realities.

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4. Focus for the Year Ahead: Uncertainty, Tech, and Blocking & Tackling

[10:15 - 12:20]

• External Uncertainty:
  • “A lot going on in the world”—geopolitics, regulation, tariffs are all influencing dealmaking and client advisory.
• AI & Technology’s Impact:
  • AI is “changing many businesses,” transforming client and lawyer workflows.
  • Emphasizes that while tools evolve, basics of advocating and protecting clients remain constant:

    “The basics are really the same. We are out to advocate and protect clients and issue spot and so forth.” (11:00)

• Client Results & Referrals:
  • Finding fulfillment in client satisfaction and growth through referrals.
  • Stresses hope for stabilization amid political headwinds.

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5. Weis’s Advice for Emerging Leaders & Lawyers

[12:42 - 16:03]

• Discipline:
  • “Have discipline every day...habits and process are the most important and will guide you as you go forward.”
• Integrity:
  • “Integrity is your main asset by far...never sacrifice or give in at all on your integrity.”
• Never Stop Learning:
  • “It’s a process that never ends. It never ends.”
• Responsiveness:
  • “It’s all about being responsive in business and to clients. If you are in the services business, when people are trying to get in contact with you...they want to talk to you.”
• Social Skills & Networking:
  • “Social skills do matter...talk to people, get out, meet people, network, exchange ideas. Very, very important.”
  • Discusses the dual nature of remote work (blessing for flexibility, curse for less in-person connection).
• Memorable Weis Quote:

  “Never, never stop learning. It’s a process that never ends.” (13:37)
  “Social skills do matter...talk to people, get out, meet people, network, exchange ideas. Very, very important.” (15:35)

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6. Recap & Closing Thoughts

[16:03 - 17:14]

• Host Scott Becker recaps Weis’s succinct advice: discipline, integrity, good habits, lifelong learning, responsiveness, and the development of social/interpersonal skills.
• Emphasizes the importance of “actually picking up the phone, talking to people, being in person with people. So important to really growth of this sort of interpersonal skills.” (16:50)
• Warm thanks are exchanged; Becker praises Weis as “one of the founders of WeisBurney, a broad ranging discussion on deal trends, private equity, private credit business, the changes in the practice of law, artificial intelligence and a lot more.” (16:57)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On PE & Credit Resilience:

  “The amazing part though of the US economy...is the resilience when we feel like we’re on the brink of a problem with private equity or private credit, somehow things seem to have always worked out and adjusted or got delayed.”
  — Michael Weis, [09:11]

• On Discipline & Career Success:

  “Discipline. Have discipline every day. You will have good days...and bad days. But eat right, work out, do your best and be disciplined. Because really habits and process are the most important and will guide you as you go forward.”
  — Michael Weis, [12:50]

• On Integrity:

  “Integrity is your main asset by far...never sacrifice or give in at all on your integrity.”
  — Michael Weis, [13:10]

• On Responsiveness:

  “It’s the intangible things like showing up and being responsiveness which are so obvious...Just a slow to respond is not good and it ultimately hurts your business and hurts your reputation.”
  — Michael Weis, [14:20]

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Key Timestamps

• 00:24 — Michael Weis’s introduction & firm overview
• 02:26 — Trends: Capital, PE, valuation, and deal speed
• 06:51 — Discussion on shift in private equity and credit, sector resilience
• 10:15 — Focus areas for the rest of 2026: AI, uncertainty, client service
• 12:42 — Weis’s career advice: discipline, integrity, learning, responsiveness, social skills
• 16:03 — Recap of core advice & importance of interpersonal connection

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Summary Takeaways

• The M&A and private equity landscape remains dynamic, with ongoing shifts in capital sources, the roles and fortunes of different PE firms, and the ever-present challenge of valuing deals.
• Speed in dealmaking is tempting but shortcuts invite risk; professional discipline remains critical.
• US economic resilience and adaptability through “model tweaks” continue to impress, but vigilance is essential.
• Professional and personal effectiveness—in law or business—rests on discipline, integrity, responsiveness, and continuous learning, all combined with genuine interpersonal engagement.

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Transcript

[A]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business in the Becker Private Equity podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant lawyer, a transactional attorney, Michael Weiss. Michael's going to talk to us about trends that he's watching currently, where he's most focused this year and a lot more. Mike, can you take a moment and introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your practice and Weiss? Bernie.

[B]

Thanks Scott. Appreciate the opportunity to get together again. It's great. Happy Monday everybody. My name is Michael Weiss. I have been a business transactional lawyer for 37 years now. My, my training in undergrad was as accounting. An accounting major, CPA and went right into law school and business law and been doing it ever since, practicing at larger firms and smaller firms. Our practice, WeissBernie, is generally focused on corporate law, primarily mergers and acquisitions, but also general corporate law, general counsel work, what we would call commercial real estate and all that goes with that. We practice really in every industries. I cannot say that we have a specialty, but we're active and healthcare, distribution, logistics, tech, really whatever clients need. I think our real specialty is the mergers and acquisition process. Also, geography really doesn't mean anything these days. Businesses are doing business in every state and internationally and we get involved. We do sometimes work with other lawyers depending on the needs of clients. If there's intellectual property issues such as patents or trademarks, we don't handle that. And litigation also in dispute, resolute resolution, we get involved, but our main focus is transactional.

[A]

Fantastic. What are you watching on the transactional side currently? I mean, you mentioned the practices will become national, if not more so. But where are things active? Where are they not active? What's exciting in the business environment currently?

[B]

What's interesting, a few things that I've observed, especially now, that may be a little bit different from the past. First, I would say credit issues and access to capital. There is a lot of capital out there and there always is. It's just question of where is it and how does a client get access to it. Private credit has really jumped up in the last five to 10 years and clients have many options now for the capital stack and for debt. Whereas the traditional lenders in the lower middle market are getting a little bit more difficult and more choosy. I feel like all of the traditional commercial banks are not what they used to be. Scott, when you and I were first starting out, they were lenders, depositors, and now there's a big focus on wealth management and higher margin type of products and services. That being said, there's still a lot of options out there for capital mezzanine, you know, different private equity, different private lenders. So that's a trend. I think that's always changing. And it's different for a established hours or investors or capital seekers and new capital providers. So keeping sort of the pulse on the market of capital is important. Another thing I'd mention is private equity is different the last few years. Private equity has obviously exploded the last 20 years, but now there's really winners and losers. There's so many PEs and the larger PEs seem to be doing well and have the upper hand for the best deals. And the smaller PEs or the not niche provider Ps are struggling either to get capital. It's expensive to run a PE shop, a lot of overhead and you know, investors are getting very demanding. So there's always a question, what's happening with PEs and what's happening with different Ps? And we see the publicly traded private equity groups are generally down this year. Third thing I would say is, and I've talked about this on previous podcasts and all over, just evaluation disconnect seems like more and more between and we saw this sort of with the Netflix, Paramount, Warner Brothers issue, there's just a disconnect as to what something is worth. And that principle carries over into the lower middle market, which is a space we're in. Just hard to get the parties to agree on what something is worth. Maybe it's always been that way, but I've noticed it more in the last five to 10 years. Another trend I would say that's really I've noticed is people trying to shortcut the process. And let me explain what I mean about that. And some of that is due to just the speed in which information flows. Traditionally in evaluating deals, there were a lot of due diligence and study and it took time and it was very organized and methodical. And now I think both sides are just trying to go quick. It's a very quick moving world. Deals can happen quickly, but it just takes time to analyze issues and numbers. So I find when either side, a buy side, a sell side or an investment side, tries to shortcut a process, doesn't work and problems come up. But I would say in the lawyering business, our advice and counsel remains the same, steady, stable, professional, disciplined. And we, despite the speed of people want to document or close transactions, we still need time to do it right.

[A]

Thank you. And talk about that for a second. You mentioned a few different things. Private equity has changed a lot over the last few years. It seemed to be really after everything a couple years ago now that seems to have slowed down even though there's been an explosion in the number of private equity funds. But, but it seems like lots of struggling more and more where you saw investments in lower margin businesses and adding on debt that have ended up being problematic. So that's for sure a bigger challenge. Private credit also seems to be having some real challenges currently, even though you're absolutely right, that's replaced a lot of traditional bank lending. But private credit seems to have some chinks in the armor as well. What are you seeing out there with private credit private equity? And I, I can't agree with you more on sort of the time it takes to do deals. Right. Doesn't mean that they can't be done pretty quickly, but. But it does take some care to make sure they're done intelligently and thoughtfully and people don't end up missing risks that are out there.

[B]

I think there's a bit of a pendulum with private credit which is being underwritten very similar to commercial credit. They private credit sold itself initially on speed and efficiency and being able to be niche and just do the deals that the banks couldn't. However, all lenders have a certain amount of risk tolerance and private credit is really no different whether you have public company and regulated or just have investors. And I think private credit has found that it's okay to be aggressive, it's okay to have a niche, but the underwriting stays what the underwriting is and there's a flood of capital out there, but it's got to be used correctly and efficiently and no investors or stakeholders like to lose money. So I see you're exactly right, Scott. I see those problems creeping up and it'll be interesting to see what happens. The amazing part though of the US economy, which amazes me daily and is probably beyond over my head, is the resilience when we feel like we're on the brink of a problem with private equity or private credit, somehow things seem to have always worked out and adjusted or got delayed and there's a short correction span which I think is wonderful and has kept us as leaders. So I think private credit and obviously private equity are here to stay. I think they're just tweaking the model. It's just a model tweak. And I think American ingenuity always amazes me and just is amazing. At the model tweak.

[A]

No, fascinating. And I love that talk about the resilience of the US economy. And I Hope that that's correct. I believe it's true. But, but I. But thank you for that. Love that talk. For a second. Mike, what are you most focused on and excited about as we get to the second half of the year, towards the rest of 2026, where are you most focused and excited?

[B]

Well, first, there's obviously a lot going on in the world. Looking at the news, a war policy, regulation, changes, tariffs. We are always focused on with clients, all of these issues to the extent we can. It is very, very fast changing. So we're always in tune with what's going on and what will happen the next six months is really anybody's guess, but we will, we will see. Second, AI, of course, and the impacts of AI. AI is changing many businesses and the how companies employees employ technology. So we're always focused on AI and how it's affecting our business and clients. Businesses non AI tech always changing and modifying and very important, very important. But lawyers have mentioned need to stick to talking to all the lawyers out there, stick to blocking and tackling, stick to what you do. Fortunately for law, although the way we practice law has changed over 35, 40 years, the basics are really the same. We are out to advocate and protect clients and issue spot and so forth. We get very excited when client matters conclude and they're happy with the result and our services and that leads to more and more referrals. But we still do believe very strongly in American ingenuity and let's hope the political headwinds and tailwinds really sort of stabilize over the next so many months so we can, I think we would just be doing that much better, 100%.

[A]

No. Plenty of political headwinds coming from both sides of the table and lots of challenges. Michael, talk a little bit about you've had this great career, you're actually a wonderful lawyer and a magnificent person. What advice would you give to emerging lawyers or emerging leaders trying to have impactful careers? What advice would you give to emerging leaders?

[B]

It's a great, great question. And it's the same advice I would say we try and give to our kids. Number one, discipline. Have discipline every day. You will have good days when everything seems to go right. You will have days when everything seems to go wrong. But eat right, work out, do your best and be disciplined. Because really habits and process are the most important and will guide you as you go forward. I would also advise emerging leaders have absolute professional integrity. Integrity is your main asset by far. That translates to your reputation. Do it all the right way, be straightforward Be honest, be clear, have integrity. We know we have a challenging business world with a lot of different issues, sometimes stress and tension. But never sacrifice or given at all on your integrity. Also, never stop learning. You cannot stop learning. Whether it's AI or new tech or new trends. Never, never stop learning. It's a process that never ends. It never ends. Fourth I would say, Scott, is responsiveness. It's all about being responsive in business and to clients. If you are in the services business, when people are trying to get in contact with you or do business with you, they want to talk to you. And it's the intangible things like showing up and being responsiveness which are so obvious. Scott, to you and I, we've done it our whole career. But sometimes not to pick on any particular generation at all, just a slow to respond is not good and it ultimately hurts your business and hurts your reputation. And another thing I would say is focused a little bit on the younger generation. Social skills do matter. We're in a texting world and Internet world where people don't talk to each other as much. But social skills do matter. And talk to people, get out, meet people, network, exchange ideas. Very, very important. The remote workplace, I think we would all agree is both a blessing and a curse. We are certainly the blessing part is we don't have to sit in traffic and commute anymore. But the curse is we're not talking to people anymore and exchanging ideas and conversations and so forth. So I would encourage everyone, do not forget that part of business. It's, it's critically, critically important.

[A]

Thank you. So no, I love this and I look at these six or seven thoughts. Take care of your physical and mental health. Integrity is everything. Good habits, good routines. Good habits are really important. Never stop learning. Learning is a lifelong effort. Constant excess responsiveness, getting back to people, really taking care of people. So critical. You also mentioned sort of mentoring and the development of social skills. It's so easy. It, we're, we're. It's also easy for us to text all the time, just email all the time, but actually picking up the phone, talking to people, being in person with people. So important to really growth of this sort of interpersonal skills and so forth. Again, we're visiting today with Michael Weiss, one of the founders of WeissBernie, a broad ranging discussion on deal trends, private equity, private credit business, the changes in the practice of law, artificial intelligence and a lot more. Mike, it's always a great pleasure to get to visit with you. You're about as good a person and lawyer as I know. Thank you for taking the time with us on the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity podcast today.

[B]

Likewise. Thank you. Scott and Scott's team have a great day. Much appreciated.