Good afternoon,

King & Spalding continues pulling litigation talent from Winston & Strawn, this time adding two partners in Chicago, while Sidley hired a venture capital partner from Jones Day in San Diego. Litigation boutiques are also racing to match or beat Big Law's latest pay bump with Groombridge, Wu, Baughman & Stone now paying senior associates up to $470,000. On the restructuring side, Willkie's all-women team on the Saks Global Chapter 11 is drawing attention for its work in large company-side bankruptcy work.

On the client side, US investment-grade bond sales have surged to a June record of about $175 billion, driven by Nvidia and SpaceX offerings, while the Supreme Court handed Bayer a major win on Roundup preemption that reshapes tens of thousands of pending claims. Senator Warren is pushing Congress to tighten antitrust enforcement around AI-driven pricing, and a Republican lawmaker introduced the AI Incident Reporting Act which is expected to drive a robust matter pipeline.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

-King & Spalding Adds Winston Litigators in Chicago / Sidley Hires VC Partner from Jones Day in San Diego

-Litigation Boutiques Race to Match Big Law Pay / Willkie's All-Women Team on Saks Chapter 11

-Ex-Cadwalader Leaders Face 3-Year Wait on Merger Payout / Skechers $9.4B Sale Spurs Lead Counsel Fight

-US IG Bond Sales Hit June Record at ~$175B / DigitalBridge Explores $2B Data Centre Options / Prologis Bids £12.6B for Segro

-Bayer Wins 7-2 at SCOTUS on Roundup Preemption / Musk Ordered to Testify in Voter Giveaway Case

-AI Incident Reporting Act Introduced / Warren Calls for AI Antitrust Scrutiny and Merger Review Overhaul

-US Q1 GDP Revised Up to 2.1% / Durable Goods Fall 4.5% / Hormuz Attack Pauses Ship Evacuation

Talent Strategy

Latest Moves

What today's moves tell us: King & Spalding's continued pulls from Winston in litigation (now in Chicago after earlier hires in SF) show firms building practice depth across multiple offices. Sidley's VC hire in San Diego signals a bet on the startup and tech pipeline outside traditional hubs.

Operations and Strategy

Today’s announcements showcase the broadening scope of items that firm-wide leadership may grapple with as firms navigate post-merger liquidity mechanics, client-centric staffing, bragging rights and settlement economics.

Cadwalader's former management committee members will have to wait at least three years to receive their capital contribution payouts after the firm's merger with Hogan Lovells closes on July 1, according to Bloomberg Law. Ordinary partners face no such extended timeline, highlighting the complex financial unwinding that large firm mergers require.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher's work as debtor counsel on the Saks Global Chapter 11 was staffed by a rare all-women core restructuring team, led by US restructuring co-chair Debra Sinclair. The team came together based on experience and familiarity with Saks' finances rather than through a deliberate diversity effort.

The Skechers $9.4 billion take-private is creating a fight among plaintiffs' firms for lead counsel status, highlighting new pressures for the corporate plaintiffs' bar following Delaware's legal overhaul. Quinn Emanuel and several other firms are separately pressing for a larger share of the multimillion-dollar fee pool tied to 3M's $6 billion combat earplug settlement.

Practices

Capital Markets and M&A

The record pace of US investment-grade bond issuance is a direct signal that corporate treasurers and CFOs are pulling forward financing while credit spreads remain tight, even as rates stay elevated. For dealmakers, the volume driven by AI-infrastructure names like Nvidia and SpaceX shows that the debt capital markets window is wide open for issuers with the right profile, and the downstream work for capital markets, leveraged finance, and structured finance practices is following.

Selected Press:

Litigation and Product Liability

The Supreme Court's 7-2 decision in the Bayer Roundup case (ruling that federal labeling law preempts state failure-to-warn claims) is the most significant product liability ruling of the term. About 65,000 Roundup cases remain pending, and while this narrows the legal theories available to plaintiffs, other claims (negligence, defect, misleading marketing) can still proceed. Bayer's proposed $7.25 billion settlement is unchanged. Boards and general counsel in consumer products and life sciences are watching how this reshapes mass tort exposure nationwide.

Selected Press:

Regulatory and AI

A Republican lawmaker's AI Incident Reporting Act would create the first federal mandatory-disclosure framework for AI safety failures, requiring developers to notify the Commerce Department within seven days of discovering dangerous capabilities or security breaches. Senator Warren's separate push for AI antitrust scrutiny citing federal cases alleging algorithmic price-fixing in food and rental markets adds another regulatory vector. Congress is also looking at merger review transparency and making it easier to unwind completed deals. Clients building or deploying AI are now tracking compliance obligations that could reshape how they structure development and commercial partnerships.

Selected Press:

Where the Work Sits

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The record-breaking IG bond issuance is the clearest near-term driver of capital markets, leveraged finance, and structured finance mandates. When Nvidia, SpaceX, and AI-adjacent issuers are tapping debt markets at this pace, the advisory, documentation, and regulatory compliance work flows to the same set of firms that handle the largest offerings.

The Bayer Roundup decision will generate a wave of follow-on work. Defense counsel will use the preemption ruling to challenge pending state-law claims, plaintiffs' firms will pivot to the surviving theories, and corporate boards in consumer products and life sciences will reassess mass tort reserves and settlement strategies. The $7.25 billion settlement framework itself will keep restructuring and litigation practices busy through implementation.

AI regulation is moving from policy discussion to concrete legislative text. The Incident Reporting Act, Warren's antitrust push, and state-level data broker rules are creating compliance, regulatory advisory, and government investigations mandates for firms with AI-facing practices. The appointment of a new DOJ antitrust head adds execution risk for pending and future deals in tech and adjacent sectors.

Global Markets

Executives and fund managers recalibrate further after the Q1 GDP revision came in stronger than expected at 2.1%, driven by AI-related business investment that offset weaker consumer spending. The mixed signal (growth holding up but durable goods orders falling 4.5% in May) is pushing economists to delay rate-cut expectations well into 2027. Clients weighing strategic transactions are operating in a market where the capital markets window remains open for strong credits, but financing costs are not coming down soon. The attack on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz added a geopolitical risk premium to energy, with natural gas edging higher as shipowners review exit plans.

Selected Press:

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.