Good afternoon,
Big Law is having a busy year. Citi puts first-half revenue growth at 11.7%, driven by a 4.2% jump in demand that runs well past the usual 1.5% to 2%. Quinn Emanuel expects to clear $3 billion in revenue as John Quinn steps back to a non-executive chair. On the lateral hiring front, Barnes & Thornburg pulled a 12-lawyer healthcare team from K&L Gates.
On the client side, antitrust and product-liability risk is front and center. The DOJ is probing Andreessen Horowitz over partners sitting on the boards of rival AI companies, Meta’s 29-state addiction trial opened in California, and Apple says App Store changes are biting its $100 billion services business. Google outbid an AI data broker for bankrupt Spirit Airlines’ corporate data and internal records. On the macro front, long-dated Treasury yields pushed past 5.3%, the highest since 2007, as US-Iran talks collapsed and oil stayed on edge.
Now, on to what matters for your practice today.
Today’s Talking Points
-Citi’s analysis shows first-half revenue up 11.7% on a rare 4.2% demand surge, but expenses climb 9.7% as the talent and AI race bites
-Quinn Emanuel targets $3bn revenue and ~$10m profit per partner as founder John Quinn moves to non-executive chair
-Lateral moves: Barnes & Thornburg lands a 12-lawyer K&L Gates healthcare team; White & Case, Orrick, and Squire Patton Boggs add partners
-National security hiring wave at Latham, Sullivan & Cromwell, Nixon Peabody, and Morrison & Foerster as CFIUS enforcement rises
-DOJ probes Andreessen Horowitz over interlocking AI board seats; FTC blocks Henkel's $725m Liquid Nails deal
-Meta's 29-state addiction trial opens as New Mexico's AG readies new social-media and AI safety bills
-Google outbids Mercor $10m for bankrupt Spirit Airlines' corporate data; global PE makes zero new deals in China
-30-year yields top 5.3%, a 19-year high, amid a global bond selloff; US-Iran talks collapse and oil stays elevated
Talent Strategy
Latest Moves
Barnes & Thornburg hired a 12-lawyer healthcare group, including seven partners such as Kelsey Jernigan and John Lawrence, from K&L Gates in Raleigh — part of a run of more than 130 lateral partners this year.
White & Case hired Mayer Brown private funds head Timothy Clark as a partner in its global investment funds practice and private capital group in New York.
Orrick added structured finance partner Steven Lozner from DLA Piper in New York.
Squire Patton Boggs added restructuring and insolvency partner Oksana Lashko in New York.
Cravath lost partner and former SEC official Elad Roisman, who left for digital-asset infrastructure firm Fireblocks.
What today's moves tell us: firms are stacking private funds, structured finance, restructuring, and healthcare benches. Talent is also flowing toward national security. Latham & Watkins, Sullivan & Cromwell, Nixon Peabody, and Morrison & Foerster are hiring to build anti-money-laundering, sanctions, and export-control benches as CFIUS enforcement drives client demand.
Check our Rolodex newsletter delivered on Monday at 7:30 am for a weekly overview of the lateral market and executive moves.
Operations and Strategy
Legal demand is up, but costs are growing too just as firms set bigger targets driving management teams to scratch less-profitable offices.
Citi analysis revealed that the industry grew revenue 11.7% in the first half of 2026, driven by a 4.2% rise in billable hours, more than double the long-run demand average of 1.5% to 2%. Megadeal and middle-market M&A led the surge. Costs are climbing alongside revenue growth: total expenses rose 9.7%, with compensation up 8.9% and overhead up 10.5% as firms fight for talent and race to adopt AI. The 50 largest firms slightly outperformed, and unbilled inventory rose 16.7%, leaving firms well-positioned for the second half.
Quinn Emanuel expects to exceed $3 billion in revenue and $10 million in profit per equity partner this year, beating targets set in 2022. Co-managing partners William Burck and Michael Carlinsky are reshaping management, talent, AI, and private-equity strategy as founder John Quinn shifts to a non-executive chair role.
Firms are also reassessing their footprint with DWF becoming the first Global 200 firm to close its Riyadh office since Saudi Arabia opened its legal market in 2023 in what is seen as an unusual retreat given the kingdom has licensed more than 35 international firms, including Kirkland & Ellis, White & Case, and A&O Shearman.
Practices
Antitrust, Merger Review, and Governance
Regulators are opening new fronts even as they promise faster deal clearances, driving boards and general counsel to recalibrate where enforcement can slow strategy. The demand signal points to more antitrust, merger-defense, and board-advisory work across corporate America, the kind of complexity where executives lean hardest on trusted outside counsel.
Selected Press:
The DOJ is probing Andreessen Horowitz over whether its partners improperly serve on the boards of competing AI companies, a test of interlocking-directorate rules across venture portfolios.
The FTC blocked Henkel's $725m purchase of rival Liquid Nails, keeping merger enforcement live in consumer and industrial markets.
Squire Patton Boggs' Michael Wise argues that faster DOJ merger reviews could paradoxically expand investigative bandwidth and lift the volume of probes.
A Delaware Chancery win for Boeing dismissing an investor oversight suit gives directors clearer footing on how much board supervision defeats Caremark claims.
Apple says App Store changes are pressuring its $100bn services business as developers steer users to outside payments, with similar shifts looming in Europe, Brazil, and Japan.
Litigation and Product Liability
A crowded consumer-protection docket is reopening platform-liability and privacy fronts, and general counsel at large platforms are likely revisiting this exposure. These developments point to sustained disputes, state enforcement, and follow-on regulatory work.
Selected Press:
Meta's 29-state addiction trial opened in California federal court, alleging Facebook and Instagram were built to keep minors engaged; the case follows New Mexico's $942m judgment.
New Mexico's attorney general is readying two bills to expand child-safety rules that would reach AI and chatbots and lift caps on consumer-protection penalties.
Snap asked a court to move a privacy suit to the Northern District of California, accusing the plaintiff of forum shopping.
Morgan & Morgan sued The Florida Bar over an advertising ban on celebrity voices and images, raising a First Amendment challenge.
Private Equity, Credit, and Restructuring
Sponsors have redrawn the global investment map by staying away from China and are weighing where capital can be deployed, particularly as lenders harden terms after fresh bankruptcies. The combination of events favors fund formation in new markets alongside a pipeline of workouts.
Selected Press:
Global private equity made zero disclosed new deals in mainland China through July, redirecting Asia capital toward Japan, India, and Australia amid scrutiny and weak exits.
CD&R's lenders toughened their stance after the contentious Multi-Color bankruptcy, a sign of harder documentation and covenant fights ahead.
Casino operator Bally's warned of covenant breaches as it struggles to raise new funds, adding to the restructuring watch list.
Bankruptcy, Data, and AI
The hunt for AI training data is turning distressed estates into valuable asset sales, and that opens fresh bankruptcy, privacy, and diligence work for dealmakers and their counsel.
Selected Press:
Google outbid AI data broker Mercor with a $10m offer for bankrupt Spirit Airlines' internal emails, code, and records; a judge will weigh approval and a data-scrubbing expert on Wednesday.
AI labs and data suppliers are racing to buy corporate data from failed companies, a trend likely to draw tighter privacy rules and higher deal costs.
Where the Work Sits
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The Andreessen Horowitz probe, the FTC's block of Henkel-Liquid Nails, and Apple's App Store fight route mandates to competition, merger-defense, and board-advisory teams, while faster DOJ reviews may simply move the scrutiny earlier rather than remove it. When enforcement theories multiply, the high-end matters concentrate in a small set of firms.
Product liability and privacy are pulling their weight. Meta's addiction trial sets a template other platforms will watch and drives MDL, discovery, and appellate work; New Mexico's proposed AI and chatbot rules extend the compliance surface; and the fight over Spirit Airlines' data pulls in bankruptcy, privacy, and diligence teams as distressed estates become AI feedstock.
Private capital work is shifting rather than shrinking. With global sponsors sitting out China, fund formation and deployment move toward Japan, India, and Australia, while harder lender terms after the Multi-Color and Bally's strains feed restructuring, workout, and lender-side advisory mandates.
National security is also a growth engine. The build-out at Latham, Sullivan & Cromwell, Nixon Peabody, and Morrison & Foerster points to sophisticated cross-border mandates in sanctions, export controls, and CFIUS review as enforcement intensifies.
Global Markets
Long-dated borrowing costs are at multi-decade highs just as Middle East risk is back, leaving clients to once more judge how open the financing window really is.
Dealmakers are scrutinizing a global bond selloff, a stalled US-Iran progress, and the possibility of rates higher into the fall. Decision-makers are reading the 30-yr yield move as a sign that financing terms, not just the Fed, will shape the next round of structuring.
Selected Press:
The US 30-year yield topped 5.3%, a 19-year high, as a global bond selloff hit long-end rates and pressured equities.
US-Iran talks collapsed as the truce expired; Iran threatened to go on the offensive in the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping has nearly halted and the US oil reserve fell below 300m barrels.
German firms cut US investment nearly two-thirds to a three-year low of €4.3bn in the first half amid tariff uncertainty.
China's economy lost steam, with July retail up just 0.6% and investment down 6.7%, lifting expectations for more stimulus.
Stories to Watch
FOMC minutes (Wednesday) — a read on how divided the Fed is as long-end yields climb and financing costs rise.
Retail earnings — Home Depot (Tue), Target and TJX (Wed), Walmart and Alibaba (Thu) as gauges of the consumer and AI demand.
Meta addiction trial (California) — a bellwether for platform product-liability exposure over minors.
Google-Spirit data auction hearing (Wednesday) — a court test of selling a bankrupt company's records for AI training.
Strait of Hormuz standoff — collapsed US-Iran talks and a shrinking US oil reserve keep energy and shipping boards on contingency footing.
Andreessen Horowitz DOJ probe — an early signal on antitrust scrutiny of interlocking board seats across AI portfolios.
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 content that highlights demand for legal services. Certain production processes may be supported by proprietary AI tools and are subject to human editorial judgement and review.
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