About the NYRR's Coaching Lab

An international business lawyer, Dyan Gershman is a graduate of Boston College Law School. She is the founder and partner at Gershman Law, PLLC, a firm that provides a wide range of legal services to clients worldwide and in the United States. Dyan Gershman is an avid runner and a longtime member of the New York Road Runners Club (NYRR).

The New York Road Runners Club is a non-profit and community running organization that aims to motivate individuals through running. It serves more than 600,000 runners every year and was founded by Ted Corbitt with about 40 members in 1958. Besides hosting marathons, including the world renown annual NYC Marathon, NYRR also offers classes one of which is the Coaching Lab.

The NYRR Coaching Lab aims to help individuals meet their goals through personalized coaching. It employs expert coaches who use comprehensive approaches to help participants complete their training objectives. In addition, it provides motivation, promotes fitness, and disseminates information to prepare any runner for their race.

Furthermore, the NYRR Coaching Lab also incorporates a forum where runners can meet other teammates and coaches to share experiences, advice, and inspire each other. People in any location can join the lab virtually and participate at their own schedule.

Key Steps of Mergers and Acquisitions

International business lawyer Dyan Gershman has more than 25 years of corporate law experience. Fluent in French, she began her career as an associate with Jones Day, a global law firm based in New York City. As a partner and founder at Gershman Law, PLLC, Dyan Gershman assists domestic and international clients in commercial transactions, intellectual property and technology licensing, joint ventures, divestitures, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Mergers and acquisitions involve companies buying or merging with other companies. These transactions are complex and involve numerous specific steps. Below is a brief overview of certain key steps:

Develop an acquisition strategy. This means analyzing potential gains from an acquisition. For instance, expand a product line or reach new customers.

Set the M&A search criteria. Highlight the primary features of a target company, looking at products, services, geographic location and profit margins. Then search for and examine prospects.

Begin acquisition planning. Make a first contact with a target company and evaluate receptiveness.

Perform valuation analysis. The acquirer asks for more data such as financials and profit margins for evaluation.

Start negotiating. After producing some valuation models, the acquirer makes an initial offer, and negotiations begin.

Perform M&A due diligence. Confirm the initial assessment and value of the target by examining its business, financial and other operations, including human resources, assets, risk profile, and customer base.

Draft purchase and sale agreement. The parties negotiate the terms of the acquisition or merger agreement, and then execute a final agreement.

Integrate the companies. The deal closes, and management of both firms work together to integrate the merged companies (teams, assets, products, and other operations).

The Professional and Personal Benefits of Learning French

Dyan Gershman is an attorney with over 25 years of experience in the area of corporate law. The founder of Gershman Law, PLLC, Dyan Gershman is fluent in French, which is an important asset that helps her work with her French and European clients. It also makes traveling to France, and other countries where French is spoken, much more enjoyable, and enhances the entire experience.

French is one of the most widely spoken languages with approximately 300 million speakers around the world. France is also one of the largest economies in the world, leading in many fields from engineering to agriculture. Switzerland (where French is one of the national languages) is a world leader in the pharmaceutical industry and many global cosmetics brands are headquartered in French-speaking countries.

In the immigration space, the French language is prominent as many refugees from Francophone nations require immigration assistance. In the international non-profit sector, a large proportion of aid missions are aimed at helping Francophone countries in Africa. The global NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), constantly welcomes new French speakers as volunteers to help relief efforts. In addition, French is also one of the official languages of the Red Cross. 

Becoming a Six Sigma Green Belt

Dyan Gershman is an accomplished attorney with over 25 years of experience. The founder of Gershman Law, PLLC, a boutique corporate law firm based in New York City, Dyan Gershman is also a certified Six Sigma Green Belt, a highly valued distinction.

Dyan Gershman earned her Six Sigma Green Belt while working at General Electric Company headquarters, where she led the corporate legal work on many large and complex acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures.

Six Sigma Green Belts are knowledgeable in Six Sigma methodology and often spend time on process improvement teams. The Six Sigma Green Belt certification shows an individual’s skills in identifying and analyzing process improvement.

The Green Belt certification process differs company to company though all require learning the appropriate subject matter, often through classroom training, passing a proctored and timed written proficiency exam, and displaying competency in a hands-on environment. In addition, the certification often requires at least three years of paid work in any of the Six Sigma areas of knowledge, such as design methodologies and data and process analysis. Lastly, the candidate must complete one or two quality projects relating to Green Belt concepts.

Six Sigma training from an institution is not mandatory for the exam, but it is highly recommended. Once certified, a Six Sigma Green Belt is recognized in perpetuity.

New York City Bar - Establishing a Platform for International Justice

The founder and partner of Gershman Law, PLLC, Dyan Gershman has over 30 years of experience as a practicing corporate lawyer, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures, intellectual property licensing, and commercial contracts. In addition to her legal practice, Dyan Gershman is an active member in her legal community and a member of a number of legal organizations, including the New York City Bar Association (City Bar).

Comprised of practicing attorneys as well as law students, the City Bar's membership is over 24,000. Established in 1870, the City Bar’s mission is to equip and mobilize a diverse legal profession to practice with excellence, promote legal reforms, and uphold the rule of law and access to justice in support of a fair society.

This mission is probably most manifested through activities carried out through the City Bar Fund, a non-profit arm of the City Bar which does good work for those in need. One of its programs is the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice (Vance Center), which provides an international platform whose principles are based on governance through shared ideas.

The Vance Center provides pro bono legal support to organizations around the world in three areas. The first area is through its environmental program, which focuses on environmental stewardship in the context of human rights. The second area, the human rights and justice program, concentrates on protecting people from discriminatory practices, corruption, injustice, and violence, in addition to also supporting other international organizations with a human rights platform. The third area, the good governance program, emphasizes transparency and supports independent journalism to hold officials and institutions government accountable.

Central Park Has Vital Role for City Dwellers During Pandemic

A respected New York City corporate attorney, Dyan Gershman’s legal practice focuses on a wide range of corporate and commercial matters, including mergers and acquisitions, for both US and international clients. Maintaining a strong civic presence, Dyan Gershman is a member and supporter of the Central Park Conservancy, which helps maintain Central Park and also coordinates public classes and programs.

Since early 2020, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing has been profoundly felt in Central Park, which is one of the nation’s premier green spaces. One impact has been an unusual abundance of wildlife, ranging from raccoons to squirrels, across the 843-acre park. This has to do with many visitors staying away, as well as commercial activities such as busking, snack vending, and guided pedicab tours coming to a halt.

Since mid-March, picnics and team sports have been replaced by solo walks, with lone visitors taking in the beauty of crabapple and cherry blossoms, as well as the annual spring bird migration. The 200 species of birds that inhabit and build nests in trees such as red maples and magnolias include blue-gray gnatcatchers and yellow pine warblers.

While crowds have diminished, the value of what Central Park has to offer has only increased. As the CEO of the Central Park Conservancy described it, the park is, more than ever, “fulfilling its original purpose” of providing a place of sanctuary and respite for city dwellers living with the stress of social isolation.