L. Steven Leshin began representing AmeriCredit Corp. when the auto finance company was formed back in 1988. Last month, the Hunton & Williams LLP partner advised Fort Worth-based AmeriCredit when it agreed to sell to General Motors Co. for $3.5 billion in cash.

In 1987, Leshin, who is based in Dallas, represented the underwriters on the initial public offering of Cash America International Inc., another Fort Worth financial company, and in the process met Clifton H. Morris Jr., Cash America's CFO at the time. When Morris left Cash America to start what became AmeriCredit the next year, he hired Leshin to represent AmeriCredit. Leshin handled the company's 1989 initial public offering and has been its outside securities and corporate lawyer ever since.

For banking advice on the sale to GM, AmeriCredit tapped Anthony Coniglio of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. The special committee of the company's board used David DeNunzio, Andrew Rosenburgh, David Platter and Will Chang of Credit Suisse Group and Robert Dockery of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Leucadia National Corp., which built a 25% position in AmeriCredit, turned to regular outside counsel Andrea Bernstein of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Former Weil M&A partner Stephen Jacobs was Leucadia's regular outside lawyer before he retired in 2004 and became counsel to the company.

That conflicting relationship may have prevented Weil from representing GM, another regular client. Weil was debtor counsel on the firm's recent bankruptcy filing. Instead, GM on the AmeriCredit deal used Mark Solomon and Melinda Brunger of Andrews Kurth LLP in Houston. AmeriCredit is incorporated in Texas. GM turned to Will Dotson, Jon Pruzan and Jim Kilman of Morgan Stanley for banking advice.