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Freshfields and Slaughter and May are set to share more than £40 million in fees on EQT's £10.9 billion take-private of Intertek, with Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Simpson Thacher also on the deal. Morrison & Foerster added a national security partner in Washington, and a run of UK firms posted fresh results.
On the client side, the Fed held rates for a fifth straight meeting with three dissents, the Dow fell 1,153 points, and 30-year Treasury yields hit their highest since 2007. Meta's profit dropped and Microsoft's Azure crossed $100 billion as Big Tech earnings split the market, while US strikes on Iran widened the Middle East conflict.
Now, on to what matters for your practice today.
Today’s Talking Points
-Freshfields, Slaughters, CC, Linklaters and Simpson Thacher share £40m+ fee on a £10.9bn EQT take-private
-Morrison & Foerster adds national security partner Annie Wartanian Reisinger / Pinsent Masons picks John Maciver as senior partner
-Macfarlanes, Osborne Clarke and Brodies post growth with flat or softer profit per partner
-US Fed holds rates held with three dissents, the Dow drops 1,153, 30-year yields hit their highest since 2007
-Meta's profit falls and shares slide 8% while Microsoft's Azure tops $100bn
-J&J's $5.5bn talc settlement and the Hims & Hers FTC suit keep product and regulatory work active
-Jamie McDonald sworn in as SDNY US Attorney as a former Citigroup MD gets 30 years
-US strikes Iranian targets as the Middle East conflict spreads and Korea's chip rout deepens
Talent Strategy
Latest Moves
Morrison & Foerster hired Annie Wartanian Reisinger as a partner in its national security group in Washington, D.C.
Pinsent Masons elected financial services head John Maciver as its new senior partner, succeeding Andrew Masraf this autumn.
What today's moves tell us: The action is in regulatory-facing work and leadership succession, not headline raids, with firms positioning around national security demand and management transitions. The national security hire tracks rising demand for lawyers who sit close to export controls, CFIUS and government investigations.
Operations and Strategy
UK firms are reporting a steady year, with revenue growth running ahead of profit per equity partner.
Macfarlanes is closing in on £400 million after a 4.9% revenue rise in what it called a "transitional year," with PEP flat. Osborne Clarke's international turnover grew 8% to near €600 million, though UK PEP slipped. Brodies pulled further ahead of the Scottish pack as Shepherd and Wedderburn grew 6%, its sixteenth straight year of growth.
The common thread is topline growth without matching profit gains. That keeps pressure on billing rates and lateral pay, especially for firms competing with US platforms for the same partners.
Bloomberg Law also reports firms are pushing associates to use AI tools in daily work, folding generative AI into standard training rather than treating it as an experiment. Partner retention and client-portability debates are back in front of management committees across the market.
Practices
M&A and Private Equity
Dealmakers and sponsors are still moving on large take-privates and cross-border joint ventures even as public markets wobble, which points to steady sell-side, financing and antitrust work. EQT's move for Intertek and a $16 billion Gulf energy JV show sponsors and asset managers deploying at scale, and PayPal's openness to offers hints at more inbound approaches for large-cap targets.
Selected Press:
EQT agrees a £10.9bn take-private of Intertek, a FTSE 100 company, with Freshfields, Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Simpson Thacher advising.
Blackstone, Brookfield and KKR back a $16bn Kuwait oil joint venture, the country's largest-ever foreign direct investment.
PayPal's CEO says the company is "open" to evaluating deal offers, putting a large-cap payments name in play.
Litigation and Enforcement
Product liability and regulatory enforcement are active, and general counsel are watching whether long-running mass torts can finally be resolved. Johnson & Johnson is testing a $5.5 billion talc deal after years of failed attempts, while the FTC's suit against Hims & Hers.
Selected Press:
J&J seeks to end talc litigation with a $5.5 billion settlement after prior attempts, including bankruptcy routes, failed to resolve thousands of cancer claims.
Hims & Hers shares fall 15% on an FTC lawsuit, raising advertising and consumer-protection exposure.
Jamie McDonald sworn in as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, putting a white-collar veteran atop Wall Street's top prosecutor's office.
Regulatory, Trade and Technology
Export controls and platform oversight keep generating cross-border advisory work. The Trump administration's ban on new Chinese-made humanoid robots widens the tech-trade perimeter, while a reported breach of a second customer by an OpenAI agent adds to the data-security and liability questions boards are now raising.
Selected Press:
Trump administration bans new humanoid robots made in China, extending trade restrictions into robotics.
OpenAI's autonomous agent compromised a second customer, sharpening AI liability and cybersecurity concerns.
Intel moves to license technology tied to startup RosaicLabs, with CEO Lip-Bu Tan's ties drawing governance attention.
Where the Work Sits
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The clearest near-term work sits in sponsor M&A and cross-border deals. EQT’s Intertek take-private and the Gulf energy JV point to sell-side, financing, and antitrust matters for firms wired into private capital, and PayPal’s openness to offers suggests more large-cap approaches to staff.
Disputes and enforcement are a deep, high-end fee pool. J&J’s talc settlement effort, the FTC’s Hims & Hers suit, and fresh white-collar sentences point to mass-tort resolution, consumer-protection defense, and government-investigations work, with a new SDNY US Attorney likely to keep Wall Street enforcement busy.
Regulatory and trade complexity keeps generating sophisticated advisory matters. The robotics import ban, AI-agent security failures, and Intel’s licensing move create export-controls, cybersecurity, and governance mandates that cut across corporate, regulatory and litigation teams.
If long-end yields stay near 2007 levels and the equity correction deepens, refinancing and liability-management conversations tend to return, steering work toward finance and special-situations teams before any names show open stress.
Global Markets
The Fed's hold and a sharp bond selloff are resetting financing math for boards and sponsors. Bankers and CFOs are weighing tighter conditions after the Fed held rates for a fifth straight meeting and long-dated Treasuries sold off to 2007-era yields. Dealmakers are watching whether split Big Tech earnings and a widening Middle East conflict pull risk appetite lower, while fund managers reassess deployment as equities slide toward correction.
Selected Press:
The Fed holds rates a fifth straight meeting with three dissents, the largest bloc of opposition to a new chair since 1970.
30-year Treasury yields hit their highest since 2007 as investors dumped long bonds and the Dow fell 1,153 points.
US Q2 GDP grew 1.5%, missing forecasts, with core PCE at 3.3% — soft growth and sticky inflation.
The Bank of England holds at 3.75% in a 6-3 vote and the eurozone grew 0.4%, as European data outpaced the US.
US strikes Iranian targets after an attack on forces in Jordan, widening the conflict and lifting oil.
Stories to Watch
Big Tech earnings continue (Amazon, Apple) — the next read on whether AI spending is turning into returns.
The long-end Treasury selloff — whether 2007-level yields hold and reprice financing for deals.
Middle East escalation after US strikes on Iran — energy prices and cross-border risk for clients.
Senate vote on AG nominee Todd Blanche (delayed) — DOJ leadership and enforcement posture.
J&J's talc settlement process — a possible template for resolving mass torts if it holds.
Korea's market rout and retail liquidations — contagion risk across chip supply chains.
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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