Zahki D. Davis, Esq.

What I'm building

DealRush is the context layer for M&A.

An operating system built for the legal teams running a deal, with a purpose built agent that works each matter alongside the team. Underneath it sits the Deal Brain, a queryable record of everything a matter learns. Run enough deals and those records compound into a Firm Brain, the practice's own memory of how it negotiates and what it knows.

The firm's data trains the firm, not the public models.

Visit dealrush.ai

Why me

From every side of the deal, the same lesson.

I have been counsel inside a large corporation, an attorney inside an AmLaw firm, and the investor underwriting private equity transactions at a family office. I have also been the head attorney building a fund alongside some of the most recognizable names in sports and business. Different rooms, different sides, one constant. The deal process frustrates everyone at the table, and the hard won knowledge that closes a deal almost never survives it.

From different seats I watched deal intelligence get rebuilt from scratch, deal after deal, and then lost the moment the deal closed or died. I am building DealRush because I have felt that loss from more sides than almost anyone.

I am not a technologist who studied this business. I am an attorney who lived it.

The record

A career spent on every side of the deal.

Now

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

DealRush

Founder and CEO of DealRush, the operating system that captures and compounds a firm's M&A knowledge.

Vice President, Legal

Harbinger Sports Partners

Built a $750M sports fund alongside general partners including Mark Cuban and Rashaun Williams.

Vice President, Legal, Private Equity & Operations

An Ultra High Net Worth Family Office

Led private equity acquisitions and venture investments across every stage and industry, from technology to consumer products. Structured team investments across the NFL, NBA, and MLB, and ran the legal and operational work behind the portfolio.

Associate, Business & Finance

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

M&A attorney at an AmLaw 100 firm, advising on mergers and acquisitions, finance, and general corporate and business matters.

Mergers & Acquisitions Legal Counsel

Fifth Third Bank

M&A counsel on the legal team of one of the largest banks in the country, advising on mergers and acquisitions, strategic and commercial investments, corporate governance, and securities.

Boards and community

Current boards

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Board Member

A Cincinnati museum and Smithsonian affiliate telling the story of the Underground Railroad, abolition, and the ongoing fight for freedom.

Cincinnati Ballet

Board Member

The region's premier professional ballet company, with an academy and community programs that reach thousands of area youth each season.

Fundnoire

Board Member

A Cincinnati fund putting grant capital into Black and underserved small businesses, so founders can build what they were told was impossible.

Honors

Recognition along the way.

Distinguished Alumni Award

University of Cincinnati College of Law

Recognized for rising influence in corporate law and leadership across the legal and civic communities.

Pathfinder

Leadership Council on Legal Diversity

Selected for a national leadership development program for high potential, early career attorneys.

Top 40 Under 40

The National Black Lawyers

Named to an invitation only list of the country's top African American attorneys.

DealRush is the context layer for M&A.

From every side of the deal, the same lesson.

A career spent on every side of the deal.

Current boards

Recognition along the way.

Notes on where M&A is going.

A Letter To The Lawyer I Used To Be

Are You Easy To Leave?

Kirkland Proved Us Right, Yet Again

Last Friday, I Resigned From My Roles

Tools Are Great, Systems Are Different

Whether you are building, investing, a lawyer who wants to talk deals, or just someone looking to make a new friend, I would love to connect.