Interviews

When the Ink Dries: Courtney Laginess from Global Payments on Navigating Brand and IP in Post-Merger Integration

Published: February 25, 2026

INTA’s upcoming spring conference, The Business of M&A: Navigating the Convergence of Intangible Assets and Capital in the Age of AI, will be held March 18–19 in New York City, New York, USA. Designed to cater to both seasoned professionals and newcomers to M&A, the program explores how intangible assets and artificial intelligence (AI) are transitioning from merely supporting to actively driving deal value and terms, and promises to offer valuable insights.

(Courtney Laginess, Global Payments)

Courtney Laginess serves as Intellectual Property Counsel at Global Payments and will moderate the session Brand Integration and Post-Merger Strategy—Consolidation, Communication, and Legacy IP at this year’s NYC Conference.

A passion for M&A work propelled Mr. Laginess into the field of intellectual property (IP). He began his career as an attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). His interest in intangible assets was sparked while researching IP as a deal asset, a focus that ultimately led him to pursue a career in IP law.

In this interview with INTA Bulletin, Mr Laginess discusses the exhilaration of closing a deal, the reality that follows once the ink has dried, and why much of the challenging brand work truly begins post-close.

Did you always aim to pursue a career in law?
My answer here directly flows into my passion for this Conference and topic. I always had it in mind that I wanted to be an attorney. I was more interested in constitutional law and questions around public policy—how the law directly impacts how people interact with each other and with government. I saw law as a means of doing that.

In law school, however, I became fascinated by corporate transactions and deal structures. I figured that’s what I wanted to do, but when I began law school—or even when I conceived of being a lawyer—I had no idea that I would end up where I am.

How has your career evolved to where you are today at Global Payments?
I became an IP attorney because while doing transactional work, we were handling security interests on IP, and I thought, “Oh, this is interesting.” I started digging into it a little more, talked to the IP department, where they had an opening, and moved into it that way.

I was an attorney at a law firm that primarily did M&A work. We did deals all the time, and there’s just something about the drive behind the deal—the negotiation, pulling the pieces together. Even as a young associate, you’re handling the schedules, so you’re really digging into what the assets are, identifying the value proposition, and then just that feeling at close when you sign the deal and everybody’s excited—there’s that relief. And everybody celebrates; the firm probably just got paid; the company’s excited because they executed the deal. It’s fun, it’s exhilarating. And then I became an IP specialist on these deals.

You are moderating the session titled Brand Integration and Post-Merger Strategy—Consolidation, Communication, and Legacy IP. What key takeaways do you hope registrants will leave with?
The post-close environment is really interesting—it’s where a lot of the hard brand work happens, where the integration happens. You have plans, but really until you put things in place—really until you close—you can’t execute on a lot of that work. And some things tend to get lost.

I talked about the exhilaration of closing the deal. Once you close the deal, however, there’s kind of this letdown, with a long post-close checklist. A lot of it’s related to brand, but sometimes that falls by the wayside, so you’ve really got to drive that. But—yes, without giving spoilers, we will be talking post-close—key takeaways—how do you best consolidate and optimize your portfolio? You’re trying to think strategically about that. How do you actually execute the rebranding? How do you communicate it to the market in a way that’s not only effective but that preserves legacy brands? When managing legacy IP, you have to be authentic from a brand standpoint: you have brought two companies together that have their own footprint in the market, and the question becomes, how do you remain true to all brands?

Beyond this—no spoilers—you must sign up and come to the Conference!

How do you actually execute the rebranding? How do you communicate it to the market in a way that’s not only effective, but that preserves legacy brands?

I imagine every deal is different, with distinct challenges depending on the company, brand, and sector?
Once you get to post-deal close, it’s more of an art than a science. Certainly, there are some things that are very clear, like change of title on ownership, security interest, and so on. That’s straightforward, but how you actually think strategically about brand value and how you communicate that really can be an art—and in this way, yes, every deal becomes quite different. And this is certainly something that we’ll dig into during this session.

What is the biggest misconception business leaders have about simply combining the brands after M&A?
I would defy anyone to say that a deal is not brand-driven. It’s always brand-driven. People will talk about the mix of assets, market synergies—all that’s very important—but at the end of the day, what your customers and consumers are seeing is your brand.

Deals really are brand-driven, and I think those realities hit hard—post-close. If you’re dealing with completely different brands, you’ve probably got different customer bases, and they all come with their own brand equity. This presents an opportunity to extract value post-close; but if it’s not done carefully, the opposite could be true—so you really want to be strategic about it.

I think that the big misconception is: “We’re going to do this, it’s going to be great, it’s going to be pie in the sky!” But then there’s the hard realities on the other side of that, and hard choices to be made. That transitional period right after close opens a lot of questions that are not always anticipated, and getting everyone on the same page is a challenge.

In the financial technology space, you’re also dealing with regulated entities. You’re not just talking about brands—what you call the company and who you say you are impacts the regulatory landscape. So, you must pull in your regulatory team. There’s just so many different pieces that people don’t really think about, and simply combining the brands after M&A is not always a viable option.

I would defy anyone to say that a deal is not brand-driven. It’s always brand-driven.

Have you noticed any new trends in IP-driven acquisitions?
This harkens back to part of the Conference title: the Age of AI. Even if the deal doesn’t explicitly involve AI assets, artificial intelligence impacts how companies operate—and therefore impacts how a company is seen and how deals are done. We’re in this AI arms race where companies are trying to get a leg up on the coding aspect, and that raises a lot of IP issues. This is true for software companies like the one I work for. And yes, there is IP risk.

IP is becoming the most dynamic and often the most critical asset class in transactions. What is the role of in-house IP counsel during an M&A transaction, and how can outside counsel provide effective support?
The c-suite doesn’t always consider IP or the impact of the deal on brand, and I think it’s incumbent upon IP counsel to really speak up for brand assets, to be strategic, and to think through post-close. What are the ways that we can minimize negative impact? How are we going to communicate what brands will survive and which brands will be sunsetted? And really, who’s going to do that if not IP counsel?

While marketing and external communications teams play a role, IP counsel must work closely with them to address critical issues regarding brand transition and messaging. If not the IP team, who will ensure these matters are handled with the necessary strategic foresight? Moreover, outside counsel should recognise that in-house legal teams must operate strategically—support me in that if you can. Don’t give me answers that are going to stop me—help me help my business.

Who should attend the Conference?
Whether you’re outside counsel or in-house counsel, you’re probably going to be working on a deal at some point. M&A also drives growth, and companies of all sizes can benefit from this. It can be a growth driver for big companies; we’re talking about those synergies. If you’re a small company, you probably either want to undertake an IPO [initial public offering] or be acquired, so this is very important to think about and, be ahead of, so there’s something here for everybody.

Register and learn more about The Business of M&A Conference: Navigating the Convergence of Intangible Assets and Capital in the Age of AI.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest. The opinions expressed in this interview are those of the person being interviewed and do not purport to reflect the views of INTA or its members.  