Good afternoon,
The fight between Big Law and the White House is heading into a second round. Firms that struck capitulation deals with the Trump administration — Kirkland, Paul Weiss, Skadden, Simpson Thacher, Latham, and A&O Shearman — now face DOJ deposition demands for their leaders and internal communications, while firms that fought in court largely prevailed. DLA Piper's profit per equity partner jumped nearly 20% past $4 million, and Paul Hastings pulled an arbitration team from White & Case in Paris.
On the client side, distressed US companies are routing restructurings through London to sidestep Chapter 11, UK pension insurers are piling into opaque private credit, and data-center developers are racing to sell multibillion-dollar stakes even as New York freezes new permits. ConocoPhillips bought into Iraqi oil, Moonshot AI lined up a Hong Kong IPO, and Andy Burnham took over as UK prime minister as oil prices climbed.
Now, on to what matters for your practice today.
Today’s Talking Points
-Big Law braces for a second fight as DOJ seeks depositions from capitulation-deal firms
-DLA Piper PEP jumps ~20% to $4.14M as it exits its verein structure
-Paul Hastings takes a two-partner arbitration team from White & Case in Paris
-US debtors turn to UK Part 26A restructuring plans to bypass Chapter 11
-UK pension insurers pile into opaque private credit as S&P flags valuation risk
-Data-center owners rush to sell stakes as New York halts new permits
-ConocoPhillips buys 42% of BP's Kirkuk unit; Moonshot AI plans a Hong Kong IPO
-Burnham becomes UK PM as the chip selloff broadens and oil prices climb
Talent Strategy
Latest Moves
Paul Hastings hired a two-partner international arbitration team (Elizabeth Oger-Gross and Tolu Obamuroh) from White & Case in Paris, building out its international arbitration and complex litigation practice in a core global arbitration hub.
What today's moves tell us: disputes work is a growth priority, and Paris remains a battleground where US firms keep raiding rivals for arbitration talent.
Operations and Strategy
Government pressure, record profitability, and footprint moves are all in play as firms head into the second half of the year.
The Justice Department is pressing the fight with Big Law into a second phase, issuing subpoenas and deposition demands aimed at the senior leaders and internal communications of firms that entered "capitulation" deals with the administration. The move follows the American Bar Association's lawsuit alleging an unlawful "law firm intimidation policy." It has reopened the split between firms that cut deals — Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Weiss, Skadden, Simpson Thacher, Latham & Watkins, and A&O Shearman — and those that fought executive orders in court and won, including Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey. Firms now weigh whether to resist or negotiate narrower requests, with some reading the demands as pressure on the ABA to drop its case.
DLA Piper posted a strong year, with profit per equity partner up 19.6% to about $4.14 million and revenue up 8.4% to roughly $4.6 billion. The results are the firm's last under its Swiss verein structure, which partners voted to dissolve; its US and international arms now sit under a single global LLP intended to simplify governance and align partner incentives.
Foley & Lardner, an Am Law 50 firm, will relocate its Raleigh office early next year to a new tower in the North Hills Innovation District, joining several large firms betting on continued growth across the Carolinas.
Practices
Restructuring and Private Credit
Distressed US companies are reshaping where restructuring work sits, and the flow of illiquid credit into regulated balance sheets is drawing scrutiny. Restructuring partners, fund-finance teams, and insurance regulators are all leaning in as debtors look for cheaper, quieter ways to cut leverage and as private credit reaches pension money. For general counsel and sponsors, the shift creates parallel mandates in cross-border insolvency, creditor negotiation, and valuation disclosure.
Selected Press:
UK Part 26A restructuring plans are gaining traction with distressed US companies as a cheaper route to cut debt, keep control, and bypass Chapter 11; Fossil Group (advised by Weil, Gotshal & Manges) and New Fortress Energy used UK affiliates and Chapter 15 recognition, with New Fortress cutting funded debt from about $5.7 billion to under $1 billion.
SDNY Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn warned in a July 14 opinion that courts should scrutinize newly created UK entities to stop "bankruptcy tourism" from circumventing US law and disadvantaging creditors; Alston & Bird's Phillip Taylor noted UK courts have tightened cramdown protections since the first Part 26A plan with Virgin Atlantic in 2020.
UK pension insurers — Legal & General, Standard Life, and Just Group — now hold more than 10% of portfolios in the most opaque private credit, sourced via Apollo, Blackstone, and Brookfield, prompting an S&P warning on transparency and stress behavior.
Deutsche Bank is preparing to sell $3 billion in leveraged loans for accounting firm Baker Tilly to refinance private credit, a sign of banks recapturing debt that had migrated to direct lenders.
Private Equity, Energy, and Infrastructure
Dealmakers are financing energy routes around the Middle East and reworking who owns the AI build-out. Sponsors and strategics are moving on control stakes and carve-outs, giving corporate, project-finance, and regulatory teams overlapping work on structuring, joint ventures, and foreign-investment review. The scale of data-center capital, and the local opposition it now draws, is turning infrastructure deals into land-use and utility fights as much as financings.
Selected Press:
ConocoPhillips agreed to acquire a 42% stake in the BP Energy Company of Kirkuk in Iraq from BP, deepening Western majors' push into Iraqi oil.
Data-center developers including DataBank and EdgeCore are racing to sell majority stakes worth tens of billions to Blackstone, BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners, and other infrastructure investors, as rising construction costs, power limits, and local opposition reshape how deals are priced.
Grupo Carso agreed to buy a 30% stake in a Gulf of America offshore field from France's TotalEnergies.
Anglo American named ex-De Beers CEO Gareth Penny as preferred bidder for its sale of diamond miner De Beers, with Botswana holding pre-emptive rights over Anglo's stake.
Telecom Italia endorsed state-backed Poste Italiane's $12.4 billion takeover offer, while Coles ended talks with TPG over a $2.8 billion Greencross deal and Perpetual rejected EQT's improved $1.75 billion offer.
PayPal rejected a joint $53 billion leveraged-buyout offer from Advent and Stripe as inadequate.
Regulatory, Antitrust, and White Collar
Enforcement posture is shifting in ways clients have to price. A lighter corporate-crime touch, settlement talks in a marquee antitrust case, and new state limits on data centers point to softer prosecution risk but heavier regulatory and disclosure exposure. General counsel and boards are recalibrating compliance programs and deal timelines around a less predictable federal stance.
Selected Press:
The Justice Department has sharply cut corporate criminal prosecutions, leaning on non-prosecution and deferred-prosecution deals in matters involving Alibaba, EagleBank, Boeing, and Halkbank, even where prosecutors saw executive involvement.
Apple and the DOJ are in settlement talks over the government's antitrust case, a resolution that would reshape one of the largest tech-monopoly fights.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order pausing new large data-center permits for a year — the first statewide moratorium — with 14 states weighing similar bills and Bloomberg Intelligence putting 80% odds on the trend spreading.
Japan's ruling party warned of suspected collusion between private equity firms and activist investors, signaling tighter scrutiny of shareholder campaigns.
Employment and Data Privacy
Workplace technology is opening a fresh litigation front. As employers adopt AI-enabled devices, biometric-privacy statutes are turning everyday hardware into consent-and-disclosure risk, giving labor and privacy teams new advisory and defense work.
Selected Press:
AI smart glasses in the workplace are raising litigation exposure under biometric-privacy laws in Illinois, Texas, and Colorado, where capturing facial and voice data without disclosure and consent can trigger statutory penalties and private suits.
Where the Work Sits
***
The clearest new demand signal is restructuring and private credit. UK Part 26A plans and the migration of illiquid loans onto insurer balance sheets feed cross-border insolvency, fund finance, and valuation-disclosure mandates. In prior cycles, the line between liability management and full restructuring is where the high-end matters concentrate, and the move offshore hands that work to a small set of transatlantic teams that can run parallel US and UK processes.
Energy and infrastructure keep turning geopolitics and AI into mandates. ConocoPhillips's Kirkuk stake, the Grupo Carso and TotalEnergies deal, and the rush to sell data-center stakes generate project-finance, joint-venture, and M&A work, while New York's permit freeze adds land-use, utility, and regulatory fights to the build-out.
Regulatory and white-collar demand is shifting rather than shrinking. A softer corporate-prosecution posture and Apple's antitrust settlement talks change how clients price enforcement risk, while the DOJ's deposition demands on Big Law itself point to privilege, appellate, and defense work across the upper echelons of the profession.
A newer front is employment and data privacy, where AI-enabled devices in the workplace turn biometric statutes into advisory and class-action defense work for labor and privacy teams.
Global Markets
A UK leadership change, a broadening tech selloff, and higher oil set the macro backdrop.
Clients are watching Andy Burnham take over as UK prime minister on a growth-focused platform, even as bond investors stay cautious — Rathbones cut gilt exposure on fears of a Truss-style market reaction. Executives are weighing a chip selloff that is broadening into the wider market ahead of Big Tech earnings, while dealmakers track climbing oil prices tied to US-Iran tensions. Decision-makers also noted Apple briefly overtaking Nvidia as the world's most valuable company.
Selected Press:
UK politics: Andy Burnham became prime minister, pledging to keep current fiscal rules, push devolution, and govern as a pro-business leader; gilt investors trimmed exposure on fiscal concerns.
Tech selloff: a semiconductor selloff broadened across markets, pressuring Big Tech ahead of Alphabet and Tesla earnings.
Oil: crude prices climbed as US-Iran tensions kept Middle East supply risk elevated.
Private credit: Bloomberg flagged new "private asset alchemy" as insurers and funds reengineer illiquid credit into investment-grade exposure.
Stories to Watch
Alphabet and Tesla earnings (this week) — key AI-spending reads after the chip selloff.
Andy Burnham's first days as UK PM — gilt-market reaction and early fiscal signals.
State data-center moratoriums — whether others follow New York; Bloomberg Intelligence sees 80% odds.
Moonshot AI's planned Hong Kong IPO — a China AI listing at a $30 billion valuation testing investor appetite.
Big Law's response to DOJ deposition demands — whether firms resist or negotiate narrower requests.
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.
Thanks for reading!
We’d like your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected].
