Biography
Shari Mao is an attorney in Jackson Walker’s San Antonio office representing entrepreneurs, privately-held clients, and governmental agencies in a variety of corporate matters.
Shari advises her private sector clients throughout the corporate life-cycle ranging from entity formation and corporate governance to financing and divestitures. Leveraging her demonstrated experience as a former business owner, Shari represents clients in negotiating corporate terms and conditions, technology and operations contracts, financing agreements and purchase and sale contracts with a comprehensive understanding of each client’s individualized corporate needs and a focus on achieving their business goals. Additionally, Shari has experience in assisting government agencies with information technology outsourcing procurement projects.
As one of the only Mandarin speaking attorneys in the city of San Antonio, Shari regularly serves as counsel in mergers and acquisitions, business formation and corporate structuring, restructuring, financing options and succession planning and consult her clients on inbound cross-border transactions, specifically from Asia. Shari takes pride in offering her clients actionable advice in starting a business, growing the business through funding and acquisitions, and divesting the business in whole or in part.
As part of her practice, she advises family offices in planning and restructuring entities for asset protection, tax planning, and investment and estate planning strategies.
Prior to law school, Shari was vice president of a flooring company, where she managed the North American operations and collaborated with factories in China and Taiwan. She was a Risk Manager on the Pulp and Paper Desk at Enron and was retained after the mass termination to unwind and liquidate trades. Additionally, Ms. Mao was an associate at J.P. Morgan & Co., where she managed projects and implemented trade processing solutions in New York, London, and Tokyo.
During law school, Shari interned for Chief Judge Fred Biery of the United States District for the Western District of Texas, where she researched and wrote memos for the court. She also worked as a student attorney at St. Mary’s Center for Legal and Social Justice.
Additional Languages
Mandarin, Taiwanese
Education
B.A., magna cum laude, Duke University
J.D., magna cum laude, St. Mary’s University School of Law
- St. Mary’s Law Journal
- Associate Editor
- Staff Writer
Bar Admissions
Texas, 2012
- Represented a public mobile advertising solutions provider in its transformative acquisitions of three international mobile advertising companies valued in excess of $1 billion.
- Represented a leading modular building and portable storage provider in the Western U.S. in the sale of substantially all assets for a purchase price of $260 million.
- Texas Rising Star – Business/Corporate Law, Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters, 2021-2022
- “Best S.A. Lawyers” List, San Antonio Scene, 2017-2022
- Business & Corporate
- Closely Held Business
- “San Antonio’s Outstanding Women in Law,” San Antonio Scene, 2021
- “Rising Star Lawyers” List, Business & Corporate, San Antonio Scene, 2018-2020
- Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation, 2020
- Belva Lockwood Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, Bexar County Women’s Bar Foundation, 2015
- Speaker, “Surviving an Unpredictable Economy: Legal Considerations You Can’t Afford to Ignore,” 2022 Asian Chamber Business Conference & Expo (August 2022)
- Guest, “Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month,” Jackson Walker Fast Takes Podcast (May 2022)
- Panelist, St. Mary’s School of Law Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Roundtable (February 2021)
- Speaker, “The ABC’s of HSR,” Jackson Walker Internal HSR Compliance CLE (October 2020)
- Speaker, “The Anatomy of an International Contract,” Free Trade Alliance San Antonio Lunch & Learn (November 2014)
- Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
- Leadership San Antonio (LSA), Participant, 2019
- Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), Pathfinder Program, 2017
- Bexar County Women’s Bar Association and Foundation
- Treasurer, 2017
- Vice President, 2018
- Director, 2013-2018
- San Antonio Botanical Garden, Board of Directors, 2020
- Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, Board of Directors, Chair of the Board, 2018-2019
- Past Chair of Corporate Governance
November 17, 2022
NewslettersJW Diversity & Inclusion Newsletter – November 2022
View Jackson Walker’s November 2022 Diversity & Inclusion Newsletter, Perspectives.
September 6, 2022
Attorney News‘Scene in S.A.’ Recognizes Jackson Walker Attorneys in 2022 “Best S.A. Lawyers” List
Jackson Walker congratulates the 42 practicing attorneys in the San Antonio office who were included in Scene in S.A.’s 2022 “Best S.A. Lawyers” list.
August 22, 2022
Speaking EngagementsSang Shin, Shari Mao, and Jeremy Sheng to Present at 2022 Asian Chamber Business Conference & Expo
Jackson Walkers partners Sang Shin, Shari Mao, and Jeremy Sheng will present “Surviving an Unpredictable Economy: Legal Considerations You Can’t Afford to Ignore” at the 2022 Asian Chamber Business Conference & Expo on Friday, August 26, 2022.
August 1, 2022
NewslettersJW Diversity & Inclusion Newsletter – August 2022
View Jackson Walker’s August 2022 Diversity & Inclusion Newsletter, Perspectives.
May 24, 2022
PodcastsCelebrating AAPI Heritage Month
At Jackson Walker, we are extremely proud of our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) attorneys and allied professionals who have brought leadership and helped shape the Firm into what it is today. As May marks AAPI Heritage Month, Shari Mao and Sang Shin shared how their upbringings shaped their careers.
April 21, 2022
NewslettersJW Diversity & Inclusion Newsletter – April 2022
View Jackson Walker’s April 2022 Diversity & Inclusion Newsletter, Perspectives.
April 14, 2022
Attorney News‘Scene in S.A.’ Recognizes 13 Jackson Walker Attorneys Among “San Antonio’s Outstanding Women in Law”
Jackson Walker proudly congratulates the 13 women attorneys who have been named to Scene in S.A.’s survey of the “Outstanding Women in Law” for 2022.
March 22, 2022
Attorney NewsJackson Walker Congratulates Its 2022 Texas Rising Stars
Jackson Walker is pleased to announce the selection of 51 attorneys to Thomson Reuters’ 2022 “Super Lawyers – Rising Stars” list, which recognizes only 2.5% of Texas attorneys who either are 40 years of age or younger or have been in practice for 10 years or less.
November 19, 2021
Client ResultsJackson Walker Advises Freedom Powersports in Sale to RumbleON
A Jackson Walker team led by recent Fort Worth additions Evan Malloy, Kayla Matus, and Taylor Cummins represented Freedom Powersports in the sale of its business to Dallas-based RumbleON, Inc., the largest U.S. retailer of powersports vehicles. The transaction was announced on November 9, 2021, and is expected to close in late 2021 or the first quarter of 2022.
October 14, 2021
Client ResultsJackson Walker Team Advises Digital Turbine on More Than $1B in Global Deals in 2021
Digital Turbine, a public leading independent mobile advertising solutions provider, has completed more than $1 billion in cross-border deals in 2021 through the acquisitions of Fyber, AdColony, and Triapodi (d/b/a Appreciate).