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Goodwin Procter earmarked $25 million a year to build AI tools and move about a million lawyer-hours toward higher-value work. Laterals kept moving: Lowenstein Sandler, Greenberg Traurig, Paul Hastings, King & Spalding, and Simmons & Simmons added partners in capital markets, real estate, IP, healthcare, and funds. Reid Collins & Tsai handed associates $170,000 in bonuses, with more to come.
On the client side, Josh Kushner and Bob Iger agreed to buy the Lakers for $12.5 billion, and Paramount signaled it may sell CNN to save its $110 billion Warner Bros. deal. Prediction market Kalshi is in talks to raise at a $40 billion valuation, and bonds sold off after CPI, pushing the 10-year Treasury to 4.68%, its highest since 2008.
Now, on to what matters for your practice today.
Today’s Talking Points
-Goodwin commits $25m a year to AI; Reid Collins & Tsai pays associates $170k in bonuses
-Laterals Hires: Lowenstein (capital markets), Greenberg Traurig (real estate chair from Venable), Paul Hastings (IP, London), King & Spalding (healthcare), Simmons (funds)
-Kalshi in talks to raise $750m+ at a $40bn valuation, with Sequoia and Wellington co-leading
-Kushner and Iger to buy the Lakers for $12.5bn; Apollo’s $2.6bn Yankees deal shows PE’s push into sports
-Paramount weighs selling CNN to clear California’s block on its $110bn Warner Bros. Discovery deal
-Neocloud show a directionally split: Nebius revenue up 454%, Cerebras falls 16% on weak hardware sales, Cisco books $4bn in AI orders
-Deal flow: Anthropic-Decart $6bn, Goldman-Neos $2.25bn, Ancora targets H.B. Fuller unit, Trian eyes Wendy’s
-Bonds sink after CPI: 10-year at 4.68%, 30-year auction at a 25-year high; a September Fed hike stays a coin toss
Talent Strategy
Latest Moves
Lowenstein Sandler hired Ivan Blumenthal as a partner in its capital markets and securities practice in New York.
Greenberg Traurig hired Joseph Creech from Venable as a shareholder and chair of its DC metropolitan real estate practice.
Paul Hastings hired Chloe Kite as an intellectual property partner in London.
King & Spalding added healthcare regulatory partner Jonah Retzinger in Los Angeles.
Nixon Peabody hired Matt Finkelstein to lead its music practice; Smith, Gambrell & Russell added global transport partner Simone Riley in New York.
Simmons & Simmons hired a funds partner from McDermott in London, its third funds hire in three months.
Akerman named Michael Adler director of AI governance and data protection, hiring him from software firm Highspot.
What today's moves tell us: firms are stacking capital markets, real estate, IP, and funds benches, and adding AI-governance leadership alongside the usual lateral hiring.
Operations and Strategy
Following Kirkland’s $500m investment in AI, firms are putting real money into the technology while defending earned fee revenue and paying up to hold associates.
Goodwin Procter set aside about $25 million a year to buy and build AI products “designed by lawyers,” aiming to shift roughly a million hours of work annually and free about 1.5 hours a day for its 3,000 attorneys. The first tool automates venture financing transactions, with more planned. Eric Tan, former chief information officer at Coupa and Flock, leads the effort. Firm leader Anthony McCusker frames it as time redirected to complex client problems, and Harvard’s Robert Couture says large firms that move first can turn their internal knowledge into an edge.
On pay, Reid Collins & Tsai, an Austin plaintiffs’ boutique focused on complex financial litigation, has already paid associates $170,000 in bonuses this year and plans more. The retention spending sits against a harder collection backdrop: Davis Polk sued a West Texas wind-farm client for just over $3.2 million in unpaid fees for work done in 2024 and 2025.
Practices
Corporate M&A and Private Equity
Dealmakers and sponsors are pressing ahead across media, sports, financial services, and industrials, and general counsel are lining up antitrust, financing, and regulated-entity review work. Private equity’s move into pro sports is opening a niche in league-rulebook structuring, while activist pressure and creative financing keep the sell-side calendar full.
Selected Press:
Paramount signaled it is open to selling CNN to resolve California's antitrust suit over its $110bn Warner Bros. Discovery deal.
Josh Kushner and Bob Iger agreed to buy the Los Angeles Lakers at a $12.5bn valuation from Mark Walter, whose firm is under federal fraud investigation.
Apollo's $2.6bn financing for the New York Yankees shows private equity fitting inside leagues' strict ownership and debt rules.
Anthropic is in talks to buy AI startup Decart for $6bn.
Goldman Sachs will buy options-focused ETF provider Neos Investments for $2.25bn.
Activists fund Trian is exploring a bid for Wendy's.
Blackstone and Canadian pension funds will take 25% of Air Canada's Aeroplan for $1.8bn.
AI Infrastructure and Capital Markets
Neocloud earnings are separating winners from laggards, as heavy debt issuance is funding the compute buildout. For fund managers and lenders, the split points to more selective financing, sharper disclosure, and negotiated covenant work as capex and customer-concentration risks come into focus.
Selected Press:
Nebius revenue rose 454% to $582m as AI demand surged, though cash burn hit $3.4bn on record capex; the CEO said 2027 capacity is nearly sold out.
Cerebras stock fell 16% after hardware revenue roughly halved and OpenAI and MBZUAI each drove about a third of sales, despite raised full-year guidance.
Cisco booked $4bn in AI product orders in a single quarter and guided AI revenue to $7.5bn as cloud providers bought more networking gear.
Whoop is preparing an IPO at a $10bn valuation; Londian Wason raised $95m in the largest US IPO by a Chinese firm in a year.
Prediction Markets and Regulatory
Prediction-market platforms are scaling into a live regulatory fight, and decision-makers are watching whether federal licensing preempts state gambling claims. The tension is generating licensing, disclosure, and litigation mandates as capital floods into the sector.
Selected Press:
Kalshi is in talks to raise $750m+ at a $40bn valuation, with Sequoia and Wellington co-leading, nearly doubling its $22bn May mark on surging sports-wager volume.
Kalshi faces multiple state suits alleging illegal gambling and argues its CFTC license preempts state action; it named Jeff Bandman CEO of Kalshi Prime.
New York City opened a broad probe into Polymarket and Kalshi, adding to the regulatory overhang on the sector.
Restructuring and Litigation
Distressed and disputes desks are picking up mandates across energy, real estate, and insurance, and boards are pairing every large matter with a litigation track.
Selected Press:
Germany is seeking offers for nationalized energy group Uniper; a Deutsche Finance Group US real estate fund will file for insolvency after a Boston life-sciences bet soured.
Insurers tied to Mark Walter's TWG Global are racing to divest outsized private credit loans linked to Guggenheim.
Levin Papantonio faces a $134m malpractice suit over a Deepwater Horizon claim.
A Malaysian appeals court tossed a 1MDB fraud suit against White & Case for lack of jurisdiction.
Where the Work Sits
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Lambda's leveraged loans, and Jane Street's $14.6bn issuance — route work to capital markets, structured finance, and project teams, and the widening earnings gap between Nebius and Cerebras adds diligence, disclosure, and covenant work to each new build. When financing turns selective, the high-end structuring matters concentrate in a small set of firms.
Private equity's expansion into sports and financial services is a fresh mandate line. The Lakers sale, Apollo's Yankees financing, Goldman's Neos purchase, and Bank of America's Jio Credit stake all require counsel who can fit large, diversified funds inside league rulebooks and regulated-entity regimes — exactly the kind of complicated rules where sponsors lean on specialist advisers.
Regulatory friction is another engine. Paramount's willingness to sell CNN to save the Warner Bros. deal, the Illinois MSO constitutional challenge, and Kalshi's CFTC-versus-state fight all put regulators between clients and their strategy, driving antitrust, licensing, and deal-defense work.
Restructuring and disputes round out the pipeline. Uniper's sale, the Deutsche Finance real estate insolvency, and the TWG private credit divestitures keep workout teams busy, while malpractice and fraud suits against Levin Papantonio and White & Case sustain high-stakes litigation demand.
Global Markets
Cooling inflation gave way to a bond-market selloff, leaving clients to reassess financing costs and deal timing. Dealmakers are weighing higher long-term borrowing costs against still-open equity and M&A windows, while sponsors track the Yen, Iran, and a Warsh-led Fed that markets still think could hike. Market watchers are eager to see whether resilient UK and US growth holds up as summer boosts fade.
Selected Press:
The 10-year Treasury sold at 4.68%, the highest since 2008, with a 30-year auction looming at a 25-year high after a post-CPI selloff.
Bond traders kept a coin-toss bet on a September Fed hike even as July CPI held at 3.4%.
Trump is weighing capital gains tax cuts and stepped up pressure on Iran with fresh sanctions and a naval blockade.
Japan's government backed a near-term BOJ rate hike as the yen sat on 160 watch.
UK GDP grew 0.4% in the second quarter (1% in the first half), lifted by weather and the World Cup, though momentum is expected to fade.
Stories to Watch
US 30-year bond auction (today) — first demand read after the 10-year hit 4.68% and the post-CPI selloff.
Applied Materials and JD.com earnings (today) — fresh reads on AI-hardware demand and the China consumer.
Meta social-media addiction trial — the Oakland case nears its jury phase, a bellwether for platform liability.
Kalshi's state-court battles — the CFTC-preemption fight will shape how prediction markets are regulated.
BOJ path (September/October) and yen 160 watch — FX and cross-border deal timing hinge on the next move.
Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery review — CNN-divestiture talk tests whether the $110bn deal clears.
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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