Good afternoon,

Freshfields named Damien Zoubek as US regional managing partner, deepening its bench in New York as the firm pushes its US M&A platform. Kirkland is putting names on its Tokyo office plan, hiring Naoya Shiota and Clara Shirota as partners to run cross-border M&A and leveraged finance. Sidley made up five London partners in an off-cycle round, adding 52 total.

On the client side, Alphabet announced an $80B equity raise, its first stock sale since 2005, anchored by a $10B Berkshire Hathaway investment, to fund AI infrastructure. Elliott is pushing for a strategic review at Northern Star Resources, Australia’s largest gold miner. And Florida’s attorney general sued OpenAI and Sam Altman on safety grounds, the first state-level AI liability suit of its kind.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

-Freshfields Names Zoubek as US Managing Partner / Kirkland’s Tokyo Hires Named / Sidley Off-Cycle Promotions

-Winston Taylor Targets $2bn as Transatlantic Merger Goes Live / Insider Trading Security Review

-Pharma Deal Boom Drives M&A Lawyer Demand / Elliott Pushes Strategic Review at Northern Star

-Alphabet Plans $80B Equity Raise Anchored by Berkshire / AI Data Centers Reshape Leveraged Finance

-Florida AG Sues OpenAI / Private Credit Losses Hit Worst Since 2022

-Euro-Zone Inflation Climbs to 3.2% / Fed Economists Warn on Inflation Expectations

Talent Strategy

Latest Moves

-Freshfields named M&A partner Damien Zoubek as US regional managing partner. Zoubek, a former Cravath partner, played a key role growing Freshfields’ M&A practice in the US.

-Kirkland & Ellis hired Naoya Shiota and Clara Shirota as partners and Catherine Simes as counsel for its new Tokyo office. The team brings cross-border M&A, leveraged finance, and private equity credentials from White & Case, Morrison & Foerster, and Ropes & Gray.

-Sidley Austin promoted five London M&A and finance partners in an off-cycle promotions round, with 52 new partners total, following its annual round in January.

What today's moves tell us: Leadership appointments and cross-border hires signal that firms are consolidating their global platforms while investing in high-end transactional talent in key growth markets.

Operations and Strategy

Firms are consolidating cross-border platforms and tightening internal controls as the market rewards both scale and security.

Winston Taylor has officially gone live as a transatlantic merger, targeting $2bn in revenue. The combined firm is focused on rapid revenue growth, AI adoption, and upper mid-market corporate work across the US and Europe.

An insider trading scheme involving M&A attorneys at Sidley Austin, Latham & Watkins, and Goodwin Procter has exposed a security gap at Big Law firms. Prosecutors say the firms used code names for pending transactions but lacked electronic boundaries to prevent attorneys from viewing files on matters they were not staffed on. The case is expected to drive firms to tighten data access controls, a reminder that information security sits at the center of client trust.

Separately, a CMS survey of 400 business leaders found that in-house legal teams are uncertain about their role in a cyber crisis, as Weil becomes the latest law firm to face an attack paying up to $20m USD to protect client data.

Practices

Corporate M&A and Governance

Dealmakers and sponsors are watching activist campaigns and the pharma sector’s growing appetite for acquisitions as signals of where M&A mandates are heading. Elliott’s push at Northern Star follows a pattern of activist investors targeting resource companies to force strategic reviews, board changes, and potential sales, each route generating advisory, financing, and governance work. In pharma, companies are buying rather than building their pipelines, which is reshaping what general counsel need from outside counsel and driving demand for lawyers with deep M&A and IP experience.

Selected Press:

-Elliott builds stake in Northern Star Resources, Australia’s largest gold miner, and is pushing for a strategic review including a potential sale.

-Pharma deal boom fuels M&A lawyer demand as large drugmakers shift toward acquisitions over internal R&D to build pipelines, reshaping in-house hiring toward M&A and commercialization experience.

Capital Markets and Technology

The AI infrastructure cycle is moving from private rounds to public markets, generating capital raises and securities mandates at a pace not seen in two decades. Alphabet’s $80B equity raise is the largest by a tech company since 2005 and involves underwritten offerings, at-the-market programs, and a cornerstone block trade, all requiring layered advisory work across securities, tax, and governance.

Selected Press:

-Alphabet plans $80B equity raise, its first stock sale since 2005, to fund AI infrastructure. Berkshire Hathaway will buy $10B at a discount, with $30B in underwritten public offerings and $40B in ATM offerings starting Q3.

-AI data centers dominate leveraged finance as Goldman Sachs’ top bankers report data center financing now accounts for the largest share of their deal pipeline.

-AI debt sales reshape global corporate bond markets, with issuers raising record volumes to fund compute infrastructure.

Litigation and Regulatory

State-level enforcement against AI companies is opening a new front in tech liability litigation. Florida’s suit against OpenAI, the first by a state attorney general, carries personal liability claims against the CEO and could set the template for similar actions, expanding the litigation and regulatory workload for firms with AI and product liability practices.

Selected Press:

-Florida AG Uthmeier sues OpenAI and Sam Altman over 10 counts of negligence and liability tied to ChatGPT safety. The 83-page complaint seeks monetary damages and personal liability for Altman.

Private Credit

Losses at US private credit lenders deepened in Q1 2026 to their worst level since 2022, while PIK income remained elevated. The numbers point to growing stress in middle-market portfolios and are drawing scrutiny on valuations, non-accruals, and redemption limits.

Selected Press:

-Losses at US BDCs hit 2.35% of NAV in Q1 2026, the steepest quarterly hit since Q2 2022. PIK interest income totalled ~$477M, up 2% quarter-on-quarter, per Reuters. 

Where the Work Sits

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The activist playbook at Northern Star shows how governance, M&A, and restructuring mandates often arrive together as boards retain defense advisors, while management teams evaluate strategic alternatives, and potential acquirers quietly re-run deal models. For firms with mining and resources practices, the campaign is a signal to watch similar mid-cap targets in the sector.

The pharma deal boom is generating a distinct type of M&A work: complex cross-border licensing, portfolio acquisitions, and R&D collaborations that require both transactional and regulatory expertise. General counsel at large drugmakers are hiring differently, and outside counsel who can navigate FDA, IP, and deal mechanics together will capture more of the pipeline.

Alphabet’s $80B raise and the broader AI debt issuance wave are producing overlapping capital markets, securities, tax, and governance mandates. At the same time, Florida’s suit against OpenAI opens a new front in AI liability, one that is likely to expand to other states and create regulatory and litigation work for firms with product liability and tech practices.

Private credit stress is turning into advisory work. Deepening BDC losses, elevated PIK income, and tighter redemption limits point to restructuring, fund governance, and regulatory review mandates as lenders and investors navigate a market under growing scrutiny.

Global Markets

Clients are watching a widening gap between US equity records and worsening macro conditions in Europe, with the Fed and ECB pulling in different directions. Executives and boards are weighing whether rate uncertainty and geopolitical risk justify moving faster on strategic activity or holding back. Sponsors are tracking the AI capital cycle — hedge funds are buying at the fastest pace in six months — while the ECB’s expected rate hike and Middle East tensions add execution risk for cross-border deals.

Selected Press:

-Euro-zone inflation climbs to 3.2% in May, up from 3% in April, driven by a 10.9% jump in energy prices linked to the Iran war. Markets now expect another ECB rate hike this month.

-Romer warns US Fed must stay vigilant on inflation expectations, with Christina and David Romer arguing the central bank risks losing credibility if it loosens its stance.

-Hedge funds bought stocks at the fastest pace in six months, per Goldman Sachs, as AI-driven equity momentum draws in risk capital.

-Israel-Hezbollah clashes persist despite Trump’s ceasefire announcement, while the US-Iran interim peace deal remains fragile.

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.