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Kirkland’s $500M AI investment includes launching a multi-year partnership with Palantir to build tools starting with PE fund formation. Cooley, meanwhile, recruited a two-partner infrastructure team from Kirkland in New York. Clifford Chance is overhauling its partnership structure to push PEP past $5M, expanding its local partner tier firmwide.

On the client side, the gating wave across private credit is spreading with Blackstone and Partners Group both capping fund redemptions this week. SpaceX set a $135-per-share target for what will be the largest IPO in history, with trading expected next week. Anthropic tapped Wilson Sonsini, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to lead its own offering, while Google upsized its record equity raise to $84.75B (up from $80B).

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

Talent Strategy

Latest Moves

-Cooley hired infrastructure, energy and real estate partners Kevin Donahue and Jacob Clark from Kirkland & Ellis in New York. The pair strengthens Cooley’s positioning in a sector where sponsor-backed deals are driving complex real estate, permitting, and financing mandates.

What today's moves tell us: Infrastructure and energy work is drawing top talent out of platform firms, as sponsors and corporates expand into data centers, renewables, and real assets.

Operations and Strategy

Kirkland’s Palantir deal and Clifford Chance’s partnership overhaul reflect two sides of the same bet: that margin improvement in Big Law increasingly runs through technology and structure, not just rate increases.

Kirkland & Ellis launched a multi-year partnership with Palantir Technologies to develop AI solutions, starting with a tool designed to make PE fund formation more efficient. The move is the first product-level output from Kirkland’s previously announced $500M AI investment and signals that the firm sees AI not just as a cost-reduction tool but as a way to accelerate client-facing transactional work, a move that surely other firms will keep an eye on.

Clifford Chance is ramping up its local partner tier firmwide under managing partner Charles Adams, who is driving a push to clear $5M PEP. The restructuring follows a pattern seen at other Magic Circle firms adjusting their equity structures to compete with US-headquartered rivals on profitability metrics.

Latham & Watkins is expanding in downtown Houston, adding 26,763 square feet at 811 Main and bringing its total footprint to more than 103,000 square feet. This move is a bet on continued energy, infrastructure, and sponsor activity in the Texas market.

Practices

M&A and Capital Markets

Dealmakers are watching a capital markets calendar that has no recent precedent. SpaceX, Anthropic, and Google are all moving simultaneously creating layered ECM, governance, tax, and regulatory mandates that will test firm bandwidth through the fall. Sponsors and executives tracking Remy Cointreau's portfolio review and Berkshire's latest acquisitions under Greg Abel see signals that strategic M&A appetite remains strong, even as equity indices wobble.

Selected Press: 

-SpaceX sets $135/share target for its $75B IPO on Nasdaq. Dual-class structure gives Elon Musk 82% voting control. Banks are accepting trimmed down fees (but earning bragging rights). Jefferies is arranging SpaceX shorts after being excluded from the offering.

-Anthropic picks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs (and Wilson Sonsini) to lead its IPO, advancing beyond the confidential filing stage.

-Google upsizes equity offering to $84.75B from $80B, its first new stock sale since 2005. Bulk earmarked for AI infrastructure.

-Remy Cointreau reviews portfolio and considers all options, raising the prospect of further consolidation in the drinks sector.

-Greg Abel puts stamp on Berkshire with a pair of megadeals (Taylor Morrison; Alphabet), marking a shift in deal cadence under the new CEO.

Private Credit and Restructuring

The capital gating wave that started with smaller funds is now hitting the largest platforms. Blackstone and Partners Group both capped fund redemptions this week, joining a growing list that includes Cliffwater, Ares, Apollo, and Blue Owl. For restructuring, fund governance, and insurance practices, the pipeline of mandates is building as investors and regulators press harder on valuations. Crescent Capital's $10.8B raise shows capital is still flowing into the sector.

Selected Press:

-Blackstone caps redemptions from its flagship private credit fund after investors sought to pull 10% of outstanding shares.

-Partners Group limits withdrawals from its $8.6B Global Value fund to 5% per quarter.

-Holly Kim (Glendon Capital) warns the private credit reckoning is "written in the laws of physics" as underlying risks compound.

-Crescent Capital raises $10.8B for its fourth private credit fund, the largest in its history.

Litigation and Investigations

The Andrew Left guilty verdict and the Pillsbury fraud accusation are landing in the same week, sending a clear signal to boards, fund managers, and their advisors: enforcement is active and litigation risk is rising across both public markets and private transactions. Dealmakers and compliance teams are watching closely, as the Left conviction could prompt other activist short sellers to overhaul their public appearances and disclosure practices.

Selected Press:

-Andrew Left (Citron Research) convicted of securities fraud by a federal jury in Los Angeles. Prosecutors showed he used social media to tout trades while secretly closing positions.

-Pillsbury Winthrop accused of aiding $145M fraud in a Manhattan lawsuit brought by Clover Private Credit alleging the firm helped defraud a UBS Asset Management subsidiary.

-Dutch court allows Greenpeace lawsuit against Energy Transfer to proceed, extending a legal battle tied to Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

Where the Work Sits

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The capital markets pipeline is generating adjacent securities, governance, and tax mandates at a scale that tests firm capacity. SpaceX's novel fee structure, Anthropic's IPO process, and Google's largest stock sale in two decades are all running in parallel, each with distinct regulatory, disclosure, and advisory requirements that require senior partner involvement across multiple practices and jurisdictions.

Private credit stress is producing a second wave of mandates beyond the fund governance reviews already underway. The expansion of redemption caps to Blackstone and Partners Group means D&O defense, valuation litigation, and restructuring work are no longer confined to mid-market managers. Insurance coverage disputes and regulatory inquiries will follow, creating work for litigation, regulatory, and financial restructuring teams simultaneously.

The shortseller, Andrew Left, conviction and Pillsbury fraud allegations together widen the litigation aperture for securities enforcement, professional liability, and white collar practices. Defense-side mandates will increase as other activist investors review their compliance procedures and as law firms themselves face heightened scrutiny over client diligence in private transactions.

Global Markets

Clients continue managing split signals: labor market strength and rising input costs are keeping the Fed on hold, while ceasefire progress in the Middle East is pulling oil back from recent highs, but no clear end in sight. Corporate executives and sponsors weighing deal timing face a narrow path this week as financing conditions remain workable, but the BOJ's potential June rate hike and persistent inflation across the US and eurozone mean the window may not stay open. The private payrolls beat and Beige Book inflation data together make a Fed cut in 2026 increasingly unlikely, which boards and CFOs will factor into capital structure and acquisition planning.

Selected Press:

-BOJ mulls June rate hike with a quarter-point increase on the table and another possible later in 2026. Experts speculate that other central banks may follow.

-US private payrolls added 122K in May, the strongest month since January 2025.

-Fed Beige Book shows stable employment but rising inflation across most of the country.

-Oil drops below $98 after Israel and Lebanon agree to restart ceasefire, easing Hormuz disruption fears.

-Eurozone retail sales fell 0.4% in April as higher energy costs squeezed consumers.

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.