Good afternoon,
Gibson Dunn has pulled Wachtell co-chair William Savitt and five other litigation partners, Womble Bond Dickinson added a tax partner in Baltimore, and the Energy Department handed out $50 million in outside counsel work across a panel of major firms.
On the client side, Grant Thornton is buying CBIZ for $5 billion, Ares is packaging €3 billion of LP stakes for sale, and AI infrastructure spending is colliding with tighter credit, data center bottlenecks and a tense Fed decision later today.
Now, on to what matters for your practice today.
Today’s Talking Points
-Gibson Dunn lands William Savitt and five partners from Wachtell / DOE panel spreads $50 million of legal work across major firms
-Womble Bond Dickinson adds Timothy Wagner in Baltimore / Cerberus-style management thinking moves deeper into Washington
-Grant Thornton-CBIZ, Ares secondaries, and Rio Tinto asset sales keep advisory work moving across M&A, funds and restructuring
-Data center finance gets more crowded as Ofgem proposes grid deposits, Hong Kong banks trim exposure, and Nvidia, AMD, Meta and BlackRock lock in capacity
-Big Tech credit risk rises as AI spending climbs / Meta lawsuit pressure and ASML-China friction add regulatory and litigation angles
-Fed Day is today with Chairman Warsh deciding on rates, chip stress in Asia and Big Tech earnings keep boards focused on rates, capital allocation and demand visibility
Talent Strategy
Latest Moves
Gibson Dunn hired William Savitt and five other litigation partners from Wachtell Lipton to join its litigation practice.
Womble Bond Dickinson hired Timothy Wagner from Nelson Mullins as a partner in its corporate and securities practice group in Baltimore.
Skadden, Vinson & Elkins and White & Case are among the firms sharing about $50 million in Energy Department legal work over the next five years.
What today's moves tell us: Litigation, tax and government-facing work are still drawing talent and panel mandates, and firms are still willing to spend for lawyers who sit close to boardrooms, regulators and large institutional clients.
Operations and Strategy
Firms and clients are both leaning harder on depth, scale, and strong relationships.
The Savitt move is the one clients will notice first. A six-partner litigation team leaving Wachtell for Gibson is not routine churn. Gibson’s move points to demand for high-end disputes talent that can handle board fights, event-driven litigation and heavyweight corporate defense.
The Energy Department panel is a reminder that government work is still a meaningful revenue stream for large firms with regulatory depth and Washington access. A multi-year panel worth about $50 million does not move the needle for every firm on it, but it does reinforce who stays in the room for infrastructure, energy and procurement matters.
Practices
M&A, Capital Markets and Finance
Large corporate transactions and financing stress are arriving in the same batch, which usually means more work across deal teams and special situations practices.
Selected Press:
Grant Thornton’s $5 billion acquisition of CBIZ is the biggest accounting-sector takeover in a generation based on the source note, and it puts corporate, antitrust, employment and integration work in play.
Ares is also arranging the sale of €3 billion in LP stakes from Ares Capital Europe IV, another sign that private markets are getting more active on the secondaries side as investors look for liquidity.
Thoma Bravo’s effort to refinance debt tied to its $12 billion Proofpoint buyout ran into weak demand for a $5 billion amend-and-extend. That is the kind of financing story that can spill into liability management, lender negotiations and restructuring advice if sentiment stays soft.
Technology Infrastructure and Regulation
Data centers remain one of the clearest fee pools in the market, but the money is starting to come with more friction.
Selected Press:
Ofgem wants data center developers to post letters of credit, bonds or cash to hold their place in the grid queue, where 315 projects are seeking 73 gigawatts.
In Hong Kong, Credit Agricole CIB is trying to sell part of a HK$1.6 billion loan tied to an ESR Group data center project. Those are two different markets showing the same thing: capacity is expensive, lenders are getting more selective, and infrastructure lawyers are likely to stay busy.
At the same time, the spending keeps getting larger. Nvidia has signed long-term leases worth up to $50 billion for Hut 8’s Beacon Point project in Texas, AMD struck a deal with Core Scientific for up to 2.5 gigawatts of AI-focused capacity, and Meta and BlackRock formed a $14 billion El Paso campus venture. That creates work across project finance, real estate, energy, tax, construction and commercial contracting.
Litigation, Trade and Policy
AI spending, semiconductors and platform risk are feeding more contentious work, not less.
Selected Press:
Meta is facing a heavy wave of social-media lawsuits at the same time it is spending aggressively on AI.
Credit indicators tied to Oracle, SpaceX, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Broadcom and Nvidia have also risen sharply, which matters because stressed credit often brings covenant fights, disclosure scrutiny and shareholder pressure.
China’s new immersion DUV lithography machine adds another layer to the US-China chip conflict and puts more pressure on ASML.
In Washington, OpenAI and Anthropic are working together ahead of an expected Aug. 1 frontier model framework, which suggests AI policy fights are moving closer to the rulemaking stage.
Where the Work Sits
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The cleanest near-term work sits in disputes, funds, finance and infrastructure. The Gibson Dunn-Wachtell team move points to continued demand for high-end litigation, while the Energy Department panel reinforces steady billable government and regulatory matters for firms already wired into Washington.
Private capital and finance teams also have plenty to do. Ares secondaries activity, the Proofpoint refinancing strain, and Rio Tinto’s sale plans all point toward mandates in fund liquidity, amend-and-extend negotiations, asset sales and sponsor-side advice.
Data centers remain the broadest workstream. Ofgem’s proposed queue rules, the Hong Kong loan sale, Nvidia’s Hut 8 lease, AMD’s Core Scientific arrangement and the Meta-BlackRock venture all create sophisticated work across grid access, debt finance, construction, joint ventures, tax and regulatory approvals.
The policy pipeline is also getting thicker. Meta’s lawsuit exposure, the ASML-China pressure point, and joint lobbying by OpenAI and Anthropic all suggest more advisory work in platform litigation, export controls, AI governance and board-level risk review.
Global Markets
Dealmakers and number crunchers are walking into a macro mix that looks calmer on the surface than it does underneath.
Today is Fed Day, and Kevin Warsh faces a split market and an uneasy internal policy backdrop as investors wait to see whether rates rise or hold. Inflation, employment and division inside the FOMC are all part of the decision, which means financing plans and risk committees are likely to stay cautious even if the statement looks balanced.
Elsewhere, the AI trade cracked in Asia. Korea’s KOSPI triggered its eighth circuit breaker of the year, Samsung had its worst day in almost two decades, and Market Index said Brent fell as Iran-Saudi talks on Hormuz progressed. Big Tech earnings also land this week, with Microsoft and Meta reporting Wednesday and Amazon and Apple on Thursday, so clients are getting a live read on both macro policy and AI returns at the same time.
Stories to Watch
Fed decision (July 29) — the rate call will shape financing windows, credit appetite and board discussions on capital allocation.
Big Tech earnings (July 29-30) — Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple will show whether AI spending is translating into commercial returns.
US frontier model framework (expected by Aug. 1) — new rules could reshape AI governance, disclosure and lobbying priorities.
Ofgem grid queue proposals — any move toward upfront collateral will matter for developers, lenders and data center sponsors.
Follow-through from the Savitt move — clients and rivals will be watching whether Gibson Dunn turns one raid into a much broader bench build.
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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