Good afternoon,
White & Case hired the co-leader of Goodwin Procter's secondaries practice as part of an aggressive push to grow revenue past $5 billion, while Brown Rudnick crossed the $300 million revenue mark with PPP jumping 17% to $2.08 million. Across the lateral market, six firms added partners in practices spanning finance, healthcare, labor, and transactional work.
On the client side, memory-chip maker SK Hynix is planning a $29.4 billion US listing that would rank among the top five share sales ever. Prologis made a $16.6 billion bid for UK peer Segro (rejected), Ari Emanuel's Mari Group is in exclusive talks to buy theatre giant ATG for $6 billion, and Walmart is paying $1.4 billion for ad-tech firm Vibe.co. The Supreme Court issued two decisions reshaping corporate liability and foreign property claims.
Now, on to what matters for your practice today.
Today’s Talking Points
-White & Case Nabs Goodwin Secondaries Chief / Six Firms Add Partners Across Finance, Healthcare, and Labor
-Brown Rudnick Tops $300M Revenue, PPP Up 17% / Axinn Hands Associates Bonuses Up to $25K
-SK Hynix Plans $29.4B US Listing / Prologis's $16.6B Bid for Segro Rejected / Mari Group Eyes ATG for $6B
-PE Zombie Funds Set to Multiply / SEC Flags Credit Fund Disclosure Bloat / Janus Henderson Going Private
-SCOTUS Curbs Alien Tort Statute / Alibaba Sues Pentagon / Legion LegalTech Challenges Anthropic Export Order
-BofA Calls Three Fed Hikes / BOJ Signals Rate Increases / Oil Declines as Hormuz Tanker Traffic Picks Up
Talent Strategy
Latest Moves
White & Case hired Oreste Cipolla from Goodwin Procter as a partner in its M&A and funds practice in New York. Cipolla co-led Goodwin's secondaries practice. White & Case has added more than 20 partners in the US since the start of the year as it pursues a plan to grow revenue past $5 billion.
WilmerHale hired Ben Fackler as a partner in its transactional department in San Francisco.
McGuireWoods hired Brian Bewley as a partner in its healthcare and life sciences practice in Washington, D.C.
DLA Piper hired Andres Loera as a partner in its finance practice in New York.
Holland & Knight hired Monica Kwok from Goodwin as a partner in its search fund practice in Boston.
Seyfarth Shaw hired Matthew Huntsman as a partner in its labor and employment practice in Dallas.
Squire Patton Boggs recruited a nine-lawyer real estate team (three partners) from Gowling WLG, with links to Blackstone, SEGRO, and M&G.
*Unconfirmed rumors and FT reporting highlight restructuring guru James Sprayregen joining Paul Weiss where Paul Basta, Sprayregen’s top lieutenant at Kirkland, leads the practice.
What today's moves tell us: White & Case's hire of Goodwin's secondaries co-leader fits a broader pattern of firms building dedicated secondaries and fund advisory benches as deal volume in the sector hit a record $226 billion last year. The spread of hires across healthcare, finance, labor, and search funds reflects firms staffing for client demand in specific verticals rather than broad headcount growth.
Operations and Strategy
Brown Rudnick's jump in profitability and Axinn's special bonuses signal continued strength at firms with focused practices and how the cohort is willing to compete for associate talent.
Brown Rudnick passed the $300 million revenue threshold. Gross revenue climbed more than 9% to $308.95 million in 2025, while PPP rose 17% to $2.08 million and net income jumped 15% to $125 million.
Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider is handing out special bonuses as high as $25,000 to associates, part of a broader trend of boutique firms outpacing larger rivals on discretionary compensation.
Practices
M&A and Capital Markets
Dealmakers and sponsors are positioning around a series of large cross-border transactions spanning semiconductors, live entertainment, and logistics. The pipeline suggests executives and boards remain willing to pursue large-scale strategic moves, and the mix of hostile approaches, rejected bids, and record-sized listings points to a market where valuation gaps are creating both contested and opportunistic mandates for Big Law M&A, capital markets, and competition teams to help clients get deals across the finish line.
Selected Press:
SK Hynix plans a $29.4 billion US listing, a deal that would rank among the top five share sales of all time.
Prologis made a $16.6 billion bid for UK peer Segro at a 25% premium, citing the target's data center pipeline. Segro rejected the approach.
Ari Emanuel's Mari Group is in exclusive talks to acquire ATG Entertainment from Providence for about $6 billion. Apollo, RedBird, and QIA are backers of Mari.
Castlelake went hostile on its £4.7 billion bid for easyJet after three rejected offers, taking its case directly to shareholders.
Walmart is paying $1.4 billion for French ad-tech firm Vibe.co, its biggest deal in two years.
Varonis Systems exploring a sale after receiving interest from Blackstone, Thoma Bravo, and Vista Equity Partners.
Simpson Thacher has been hired to advise Bill Foley, majority owner of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, in a bid to bring an NBA team to Las Vegas.
Trian and General Catalyst received regulatory and client approval to take Janus Henderson private.
Private Equity and Credit
Limited partners and fund advisors are watching stress build across the private credit sector. More than half of PE investors now expect a surge in zombie funds over the next two years as managers extend fund lives beyond original terms. The SEC is flagging that credit fund disclosures have become too dense for investors to parse, while carried interest loans are growing as an alternative to stalled distributions. For restructuring, secondaries, and fund advisory practices, this creates a growing pool of mandates.
Selected Press:
PE zombie funds expected to multiply as sluggish dealmaking and difficult exits leave portfolio companies trapped and push managers toward continuation vehicles.
SEC's Investor Advisory Committee warned that private credit fund disclosures have become dense legal documents that shield managers more than they inform investors. Commissioner Uyeda suggested a rulebook revamp.
PE executives turn to carried interest loans as distributions stall and payouts lag.
Litigation and Regulatory
The Supreme Court's pair of corporate liability decisions are reshaping boundaries of cross-border litigation. The ATS ruling narrows one avenue for human rights claims against corporations abroad, while the Cuba decision opens another for property recovery. AI-related enforcement is accelerating, with legal tech firms and content owners testing the limits of export controls and IP protections in federal court.
Selected Press:
SCOTUS curbed the Alien Tort Statute in a 6-3 ruling, dismissing claims that Cisco aided China's persecution of Falun Gong. The court held the law does not permit aiding-and-abetting liability.
SCOTUS ruled for ExxonMobil, making it easier for US companies to seek compensation from Cuba for property seized under Fidel Castro.
Alibaba sued the Pentagon in California federal court, challenging its designation as a 'Chinese military company.'
Legion LegalTech sued the Commerce Department over an order that forced Anthropic to disable advanced AI models for foreign nationals, disrupting Legion's Canada-based operations.
Jamendo sued Nvidia in California for allegedly misusing music and data to train audio-related AI systems.
Pogust Goodhead brought in Quinn Emanuel and $150 million in fresh funding ahead of the BHP Mariana Dam damages trial.
Where the Work Sits
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The M&A pipeline is producing mandates at scale. SK Hynix's record-sized listing, Prologis's rejected bid for Segro, and Castlelake's hostile approach on easyJet each involve cross-border structuring, regulatory approvals, and contested valuations that pull in capital markets, M&A, and competition teams simultaneously.
Private credit stress is the clearest near-term driver of restructuring and fund advisory work. When more than half of investors expect zombie funds to proliferate and regulators are questioning whether disclosures are fit for purpose, the downstream work including secondaries transactions, investor disputes, gating mechanism design, and regulatory compliance creates mandates across restructuring, fund formation, and litigation practices.
Cross-border litigation is also expanding. The Supreme Court's ATS ruling narrows one avenue for human rights claims, but the Alibaba and Legion LegalTech lawsuits show that US-China trade restrictions and AI export controls are generating a new category of high-stakes federal litigation for both corporate defendants and tech companies caught in regulatory crossfire.
Global Markets
Clients are watching central banks across Asia and the US for signals on rate direction at a time when energy prices are softening and the UK political transition adds uncertainty to European deal flow. Bank of America reversed course to call for three Fed rate hikes this year, while the BOJ signaled further increases and South Korea said hiking is needed. The combination of tightening monetary policy and softening commodity prices is creating a mixed environment where dealmakers are weighing execution risk more carefully.
Selected Press:
BofA now expects three Fed hikes in 2026 (September, October, December), joining a hawkish consensus as CME FedWatch puts September hike odds at 73%.
BOJ signaled rate hikes in a summary of its latest decision. Thailand held its rate at a near four-year low.
Oil extended declines as more tankers openly cross the Strait of Hormuz and US-Iran negotiations show progress.
Treasury Secretary Bessent signaled confidence in Fed Chair Warsh and predicted inflation will retreat.
Germany's business outlook brightened slightly in June, easing worries about Iran war knock-on effects.
UK PE braces for Burnham premiership as buyout leaders assess how a political shake-up could alter deal conditions and regulatory scrutiny.
That’s the rundown. See you next where law meets the markets.
-The BigLaw Markets Team
*DISCLAIMER: BigLaw Markets analyzes publicly available information, filings, press releases, and news stories published by reputable media sources to deliver newsletters that highlight the drivers of demand for legal services.
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