It started with a phone call Friday night at the opening of Memorial Day weekend. It ended with a champagne celebration six days later when the Los Angeles Clippers changed hands. In between there were bids that featured shovelfuls of celebrity names, a speaker phone with Donald Sterling bellowing his defiance and much lost sleep for the chief negotiator in the deal.

Bob Baradaran has spent most of his career as a transactional attorney, so he’s no stranger to late nights, aggressive time lines and complicated deals. But 100 years of experience couldn’t have prepared him for shepherding the sale of a professional basketball team in less than a week.

Baradaran, managing partner of Century City law firm Greenberg Glusker, was the lead attorney for the $2 billion sale of the Clippers to former Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. The deal moved like lightning from the moment Shelly Sterling decided to sell the team until the documents were signed. A spectacular accomplishment considering the complexity and the scandal that had enveloped the team’s ownership.

Read the full story in the August 25 weekly edition of the Business Journal.