Good afternoon,
Kirkland & Ellis poached antitrust boutique cofounder John Harkrider and partner Craig Minerva from Axinn, while Hogan Lovells Cadwalader launches tomorrow as one of New York’s largest corporate practices. Across fund finance and private capital, Weil hired A&O Shearman’s global co-head of fund finance in London, Debevoise picked up a finance partner from Ropes & Gray in New York, and Dechert launched a new capital solutions team with two Ropes hires.
On the client side, deal volume is running at a record pace at midyear. Rocket Lab is acquiring Iridium for $8B, Digital Realty buys Blackstone data centers for $3B, private credit pushes further into consumer debt, and the Supreme Court handed presidents broad firing power over agency heads while protecting the Fed.
Now, on to what matters for your practice today.
Today’s Talking Points
-Kirkland hired Axinn cofounder Harkrider for antitrust / Hogan Lovells Cadwalader debuts as 300+ lawyer firm
-Fund finance laterals join Weil, Debevoise, Dechert, Cleary, and King & Spalding
-Rocket Lab buys Iridium for $8B / Digital Realty buys Blackstone data centers for $3.5B
-SCOTUS expands presidential firing power over independent agencies, protects Fed independence
-PE fund investors turn to $9B preferred equity market for liquidity / Private credit pushes into consumer debt
-OpenAI delays IPO to 2027 / European startups flock to US SPACs / US share sales hit record $250B
-Yen hits 40-year low / Dow above 52,000 / Mag 7 down $2.3T this month
Talent Strategy
Latest Moves
Kirkland & Ellis hired antitrust boutique cofounder John Harkrider and partner Craig Minerva from Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider.
Weil hired Fiona Cumming, A&O Shearman's global co-head of fund finance, as a finance partner in London.
Debevoise & Plimpton hired Andrea Hwang as a finance partner in New York from Ropes & Gray.
Dechert hired Leonard Klingbaum to head a new capital solutions team in New York and Jennifer Harris as a finance partner in Los Angeles. Both from Ropes & Gray.
Cleary Gottlieb hired Nathan McKinnon as a funds partner in London from Fried Frank and Emmanuel Enrici as a corporate partner in Paris from Kirkland & Ellis.
King & Spalding hired Ron Franklin as a fund finance partner in New York from Proskauer.
White & Case hired Fergus Saurin and Grace Zhu as disputes partners in Hong Kong from Broadfield.
Linklaters lost Frankfurt funds partner Olena Tokman to McDermott Will & Schulte.
Robins Kaplan added four former DOJ attorneys as partners in its fraud and investigations practice in Minnesota.
What today's moves tell us: The antitrust bench keeps getting deeper at elite firms as enforcement activity drives demand. Meanwhile, fund finance and private capital hiring is accelerating across London, New York, Paris, and Frankfurt, with firms building teams to serve the next cycle of sponsor-led fundraising and deployment.
Operations and Strategy
Big Law has proved there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, and 2026 is no exception, with firm leaders seeking an edge over their competitors through different strategies including scale mergers, AI, and brand positioning.
Hogan Lovells Cadwalader launches tomorrow with more than 300 lawyers, combining Hogan Lovells' international reach with Wall Street's oldest law firm. Firmwide leader Miguel Zaldivar said the merger is already attracting additional talent, though analysts say the firm still needs to prove it can compete for the most lucrative transactional mandates in New York.
Kirkland & Ellis announced a partnership with Syllo to extend its AI strategy into litigation, while Reed Smith launched an AI Leadership Program with Cornell University for partners. Baker Botts head said AI may hinder young lawyers at some Big Law firms but not his. The divergent approaches highlight how firms are splitting between building proprietary AI tools and investing in leadership education.
Proskauer Rose updated its brand to emphasize client experience over efficiency under chair Timothy Mungovan. Separately, Sullivan & Cromwell landed a $1.4M government contract to advise on the redevelopment of the Pakistan-owned Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan.
Practices
M&A and Energy
Dealmakers are moving aggressively at midyear, with US share offerings hitting a record $250B in H1 and cross-border activity accelerating. The pipeline of energy-related M&A is expanding as AI infrastructure needs drive a wave of power-sector consolidation, creating sustained advisory work across energy, project finance, regulatory approvals, and competition clearance.
Selected Press:
Rocket Lab to acquire satellite operator Iridium for ~$8B, expanding its space infrastructure platform.
Digital Realty buying Blackstone data center stakes in Virginia for $3.5B in cash and stock.
KKR agreed to buy EDF's US and Canadian renewables portfolio (5.6 GW, reported >$4.6B), part of a broader push by sponsors to secure power assets for AI data centers.
Onsemi to buy chipmaker Synaptics in a $6B stock deal, consolidating the semiconductor supply chain.
Safran in talks to buy French sea-drone maker Exail for roughly EUR2.2B.
Comcast plans tax-free spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky into two publicly traded companies, setting up a major restructuring advisory mandate.
Private Equity and Credit
Sponsors and credit funds are adapting to a prolonged exit drought. PE fund investors are turning to structured preferred equity transactions to generate liquidity without crystallizing losses, while private credit managers are pushing deeper into consumer lending through BNPL forward-flow agreements. Both trends are creating demand for creative fund finance, structured products, and regulatory advisory work as parts of the sector continue raising growth and stability questions.
Selected Press:
PE fund investors turn to $9B preferred equity market as aging fund stakes and slow distributions force creative liquidity solutions.
Blue Owl, KKR, and Elliott pour billions into BNPL agreements, linking two stressed sectors and raising systemic risk questions.
Altana launching fund to exploit expected private credit downturn and declining corporate valuations.
Regulatory and Governance
The Supreme Court's decision to allow presidents to remove independent agency heads reshapes the regulatory landscape for every company that deals with the FTC, SEC, NLRB, and similar bodies. For general counsel and boards, the ruling means regulatory posture could shift more sharply between administrations, making compliance planning more complex and increasing reliance on outside regulatory counsel.
Selected Press:
SCOTUS ruled presidents can fire most independent agency heads at will but blocked Trump from removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook (5-4), reinforcing Fed independence.
Proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis won a third legal victory against Republican-backed anti-ESG disclosure rules, with suits pending in multiple states.
Democrats' Project 2029 proposes narrowing Section 230 protections for AI-generated content, paid ads, and platforms enabling illegal activity.
Pro-Trump groups push FCC to revoke Disney broadcast licenses.
DOJ closed criminal investigation into Abbott over infant formula safety, pursuing civil settlement instead.
Where the Work Sits
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Energy M&A and infrastructure deals are generating high-end advisory mandates across project finance, competition clearance, and cross-border regulatory work. The KKR/EDF and Rocket Lab/Iridium deals each require multi-jurisdiction approvals and complex financing structures that keep elite transactional teams busy through closing and beyond.
The private credit and structured finance pipeline is expanding in two directions: sponsor-side preferred equity work is creating mandates for fund finance and secondaries teams, while the push into consumer lending through BNPL agreements is driving regulatory, structured products, and risk advisory work. Both streams point to sustained billable activity for firms with deep bench strength in financial services.
The Supreme Court's independent-agency ruling opens a new lane for regulatory practices. Companies that rely on stable agency interpretations now face the prospect of faster policy shifts between administrations, which increases demand for compliance audits, enforcement defense, and regulatory strategy advisory. The parallel ESG litigation track adds governance and First Amendment work to the mix.
Global Markets
Clients are watching the yen's slide to a 40-year low as a potential trigger for Japanese intervention and reconsidering acquisitions and activism campaigns in the country. In the US, executives and board directors are taking stock of a record first half for US equity issuance. The Dow's move above 52,000 sits alongside a $2.3T sell-off in Magnificent 7 stocks this month as investors question AI spending returns. Dealmakers tracking the ECB's remarks note a softer than expected inflation shock than previously felt in 2022, which may give European clients more confidence to pursue cross-border transactions.
Selected Press:
Japanese yen hit its weakest level since 1986, heightening expectations of government currency intervention.
Christine Lagarde’s speech signals a new ECB playbook indicating that the ECB can once again rely on interest rates to keep inflation under control.
Sovereign investors with $29T pivot to energy assets amid dollar fears, redirecting capital allocation strategies.
European SPACs regain traction with 9 startups worth $12.3B+ planning US SPAC mergers, the highest tally since 2021.
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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