Good Morning,

Paul Weiss and Clifford Chance are both planting flags in Houston, with Paul Weiss pulling energy M&A talent from Kirkland & Ellis for its new office. Pillsbury has opened in Boston. Reed Smith added a corporate partner in LA, and KKR posted Q1 earnings that beat Wall Street estimates on the back of growing assets and a pickup in deal activity.

On the client side, Anthropic and OpenAI both launched multi-billion-dollar enterprise JVs backed by major PE firms and banks. Meta is lining up $13B in financing for a Texas data center. Private credit is drawing more scrutiny as the SEC investigates fraud allegations and investors pull back from Blue Owl and Ares funds. Oil is above $106 as the US-Iran ceasefire strains.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

-Houston Talent War: Paul Weiss, Clifford Chance hire energy and corporate partners / Pillsbury opens Boston

-KKR Q1 Beat: Revenue up 33% YoY as deal activity accelerates across the platform

-AI Enterprise Push: Anthropic $1.5B JV with Blackstone, Goldman; OpenAI $10B JV with TPG, Brookfield, Bain Capital

-Private Credit Stress: SEC fraud probes, ILPA warns on conflict vehicles, Brown endowment cuts Blue Owl exposure

-M&A Pipeline: GameStop's $56B eBay bid, Carlyle/QIA's $9.1B BASF LBO, Spirit Airlines Chapter 7 liquidation

-Global Markets: RBA hikes for third straight time, ECB and BoE edging toward June hikes, US-Iran ceasefire fragile

Talent Strategy

What today's moves tell us: Houston is the latest front in the US firm talent race, with two major international and domestic firms adding energy and corporate capabilities in the same week. Boston is also picking up attention as a lateral destination.

-Paul Weiss hired energy M&A partner Aisha Cast from Kirkland & Ellis for its new Houston office, along with a second lateral.

-Clifford Chance also added partners in Houston, expanding its US energy and corporate footprint.

-Bryan Ikegami joined Reed Smith as a partner in its global corporate group in Century City.

-Robert Uriarte joined Pillsbury as an IP litigation partner in Los Angeles.

-Pillsbury opened a new office in Boston.

Operational Strategy

Deal volumes are running well ahead of last year, and alternative asset managers are posting strong earnings, both of which point to sustained demand for BigLaw advisory work across M&A, fund formation, and leveraged finance.

KKR beat Q1 estimates with revenue of $2.35B, up 33% year-over-year, driven by higher management fees and a pickup in deal realizations. Global M&A volume hit $1.73 trillion through April 30, per LSEG, up 42% over the same period in 2025. US M&A is up 59%. PE-backed volume globally is 53% higher.

The deal pipeline is feeding law firm growth. Houston is getting direct investment from firms like Paul Weiss and Clifford Chance, both adding energy-focused teams. Pillsbury's Boston opening adds to a list of firms expanding into secondary US markets. Davis Polk and Wachtell are advising on the Padres sale to a PE buyer, per Bloomberg Law.

Practices

M&A and Capital Markets

A mix of hostile bids, LBOs, and take-privates are driving M&A advisory work across sectors.

GameStop's unsolicited $56B bid for eBay is drawing skepticism. The financing relies on a 'highly confident' $20B letter from TD Securities that echoes the Drexel playbook of the 1980s. Meanwhile, UniCredit shareholders approved new shares for its $40B hostile bid for Commerzbank. On the take-private side, General Atlantic-backed Long Lake is taking American Express Global Business Travel private at $6.3B, and Carlyle and Qatar's QIA kicked off a $2.3B junk bond sale for their $9.1B LBO of BASF's coatings unit.

Private Equity and Credit

Private credit is facing a correction in confidence as regulators and investors both apply pressure.

The SEC is investigating fraud allegations at private credit firms, per Chair Paul Atkins. ILPA, the private equity investor body, warned that continuation vehicles and the rush for retail capital are driving problematic behavior. Brown University's $8B endowment cut its position in a Blue Owl private credit fund by more than half. Ares Management wrote down loans to three Clearlake Capital-owned software businesses, citing AI disruption risk. PJT CEO Paul Taubman said retail investors will stop fueling private credit growth. A cost gap is also pushing some borrowers back toward syndicated loans.

Technology, AI, and Data Infrastructure

AI spending is generating a wave of financing, JV structuring, and regulatory work.

Anthropic formed a $1.5B JV with Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Apollo, General Atlantic, Sequoia, and GIC to deploy its AI across portfolio companies. OpenAI raised $4B from TPG, Brookfield, Advent, and Bain Capital for a $10B JV called The Deployment Company. Meta is working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan on $13B in financing for a Texas data center. Banks are also scrambling to offload data centre debt risk through SRTs and private deals as exposure to Oracle and CoreWeave projects hits internal limits. The Trump administration is weighing new AI model safety review requirements for government deployments.

Restructuring

Spirit Airlines will liquidate in Chapter 7. Saks Global sent its bankruptcy plan to creditors, proposing to wipe out all equity and hand control to senior lenders. Creditors holding $1.8B in bonds extended a deadline for Fortress-backed Brightline West to raise cash for its LA-to-Vegas high-speed rail project.

Where the Work Sits

The AI infrastructure buildout is creating a deep pipeline of structured finance, JV formation, and data center financing work. Anthropic's and OpenAI's PE-backed JVs alone require fund structuring, governance agreements, and commercial deployment contracts across dozens of portfolio companies. Meta's $13B data center financing adds project finance and construction lending mandates. Banks offloading data centre debt through SRTs and private deals creates work for capital markets and structured products teams.

Private credit stress is generating regulatory, litigation, and restructuring demand. SEC fraud investigations, LP pushback on continuation vehicles, and fund-level writedowns at Ares and redemption pressure at Blue Owl all point toward increased advisory work in fund governance, investor disputes, and distressed credit. The shift of some borrowers from private credit back to syndicated loans also generates refinancing and restructuring mandates.

M&A advisory demand remains strong across hostile situations (GameStop/eBay, UniCredit/Commerzbank), large-cap LBOs (BASF coatings), and take-privates (American Express GBT). Restructuring teams are active on Spirit Airlines' Chapter 7 liquidation and Saks Global's equity wipeout plan.

Global Markets

Central banks are diverging as the Iran conflict pushes energy prices higher and complicates the inflation outlook globally.

The RBA delivered a third straight rate hike, unwinding all of last year's cuts, as Australian inflation pressures built even before the Iran war started. The Fed held rates steady last week with growing internal divisions. The ECB and Bank of England are edging toward hikes as soon as June. Euro zone firms see the risk of a new inflation surge if the Iran conflict persists, per an ECB poll. Switzerland's inflation hit a 16-month high; the Philippines' exceeded 7%.

US stocks pulled back from all-time highs. The Dow fell 557 points as crude oil jumped above $106. The US-Iran ceasefire is fragile after clashes forced hundreds of ships to cluster near Dubai. PIMCO's international clients are looking to diversify away from the US. In a bright spot for equities, S&P 500 buyback plans hit a record high this year. AI remains the dominant force in US business investment, with spending on information-processing equipment up 64% and software up 46%, while all other capex fell 17%.

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.