The Lawyer Who Sees the Whole Deal

In this episode, we sit down with Thomas Hooks, General Counsel, Chief of Staff at Stately, and City Councilman in Lafayette, Louisiana to explore how legal, strategy, and leadership intersect in M&A and beyond.

Thomas isn’t your average in-house attorney. With a background that spans industrial services, local politics, and private equity dealmaking, he brings a systems-thinking lens to every deal, team, and tension point. He’s also a husband and father of six with a grounded identity rooted in faith and family.

Whether you’re an M&A lead, founder, operator, or advisor, this episode will challenge how you think about risk, integration, and the people side of transactions.

Key Topics Covered:

• How to balance family, faith, and high-performance leadership
• The four great temptations in ambitious environments: wealth, pleasure, power, and honor
• Why general counsel must be the unpopular truth-teller in deals
• M&A strategy: scale vs. capabilities, and how to think like an operator
• Leveraging salespeople and product experts for acquisition insights
• The difference between public-sector and private-sector deal dynamics
• How to build organizational alignment across visionary and risk-averse leadership

Connect with the Guest:

Thomas Hooks

General Counsel & Chief of Staff, Stately

City Councilman, Lafayette, LA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasrhooks/

Connect with the Hosts & The Deal Podcast:

Joshua Wilson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDealPodcast

Website: https://www.thedealpodcast.com