Good morning,

Kirkland is merging its real estate and energy teams into a single 600-lawyer real assets group, Davis Polk is eyeing a full-service LA office, and the DOJ made little headway at the D.C. Circuit in its fight over the Trump law firm executive orders. The latest Law Firm Financial Index shows the aggregate market trendline pointing down in 2026, with global instability hitting both dealmaking and restructuring pipelines.

On the client side, Cerebras soared 68% in the biggest tech IPO this decade after raising $5.6B, Anthropic is raising $30B at a $900B valuation, OpenAI is weighing legal action against Apple over their AI partnership, and the Senate Banking Committee advanced the Clarity Act for crypto regulation. Treasury yields hit a 12-month high as inflation data keeps the Fed on hold.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

-Kirkland Merges Real Estate and Energy Into 600-Lawyer Real Assets Group / Davis Polk Plans Full-Service LA Office

-Proskauer Adds Restructuring Partner in NY / Dechert Hires Two for Singapore Corporate / Freshfields Names New UK Managing Partner

-DOJ Makes Little Headway at D.C. Circuit in Trump Law Firm EO Battle / Law Firm Market Trendline Points Down

-Cerebras IPO Soars 68% in Decade’s Largest Tech Debut / Anthropic Raising $30B at $900B Valuation

-OpenAI Weighs Legal Action Against Apple / Musk v. OpenAI Closing Statements Delivered / Crypto Clarity Act Advances

-Private Credit Redemptions Top Fundraising for First Time / Apollo and Brookfield Eye £1.3T UK Pensions Pot

-Treasury Yields Hit 12-Month High / Trump-Xi Summit Resets US-China Relations / UK Political Instability Rattles Gilts

Talent Strategy

What today's moves tell us: Firms are building out restructuring, cross-border corporate, and leadership benches as demand shifts across geographies and practice lines.

-Proskauer hired restructuring partner Josh Sturm in New York.

-Dechert hired David Cho and Min Kim as partners in its corporate and securities practice in Singapore.

Operational Strategy

Firms are restructuring practice groups to match client demand while planting flags in new markets, even as the broader market outlook cools.

Kirkland & Ellis merged its real estate and energy teams into a single real assets practice with more than 600 lawyers, a move the firm said was designed to align with how clients think about infrastructure, power, and property together. The integration formalizes a pattern already visible in how sponsor-backed deals cross traditional practice lines.

Davis Polk is planning a full-service office in Los Angeles. Chair Neil Barr said the firm’s current footprint limited what talent it could recruit and where, and the LA office would remove those barriers.

The latest Law Firm Financial Index shows the aggregate market trendline pointing down in 2026. Global wars and instability are affecting both dealmaking and restructuring pipelines. Separately, Meta’s legal ops chief told a CLOC panel that AI will push firms to adopt value-based pricing, calling the billable hour a model firms should abandon for their own good.

Practices

M&A and Capital Markets

Cross-border deal activity spans food, energy, and infrastructure, while the IPO market heated up on AI demand.

Ingredion offered to acquire UK food ingredients peer Tate & Lyle for $3.7B cash at a 65% premium. ENEOS agreed to buy a portion of Chevron’s APAC assets for $2.2B including a 50% stake in a Singapore refinery. Comcast’s Sky unit is in active talks to acquire the media division of UK broadcaster ITV for $2.2B, and Toscafund offered to buy out UK hospital group Spire Healthcare for $1.35B at a 66% premium.

Cerebras Systems soared 68% in its first day of trading after raising $5.6B in an upsized IPO priced well above its initial range, making it the biggest tech IPO this decade. Anthropic is raising a $30B round at a $900B pre-money valuation, co-led by Dragoneer, Greenoaks, Sequoia, and Altimeter Capital, nearly tripling its prior $350B valuation. Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust raised $1.75B in an IPO to acquire data centers.

Private Equity and Credit

The private credit market is under pressure from multiple directions as redemptions overtake fundraising and sponsors address problem funds.

Private credit redemptions topped fundraising for the first time, per Bloomberg. KKR, Apollo, and BlackRock are each using different tactics to manage problem funds that have become reputational concerns despite being a small part of their assets. HSBC paused a $4B private credit fund. Apollo and Brookfield are targeting a £1.3 trillion pool of UK workplace pension savings through pension risk transfers, with competition to manage the money stepping up.

In energy infrastructure, Mubadala Energy, CPP Investments, and BlackRock are among investors providing $9.75B to back a $13B US gas plant as Middle East supplies falter. Blackstone and KKR are set to take control of dental business Affordable Care in a restructuring that will cut 70% of its debt.

Regulatory and Litigation

AI disputes, crypto legislation, and government investigations are generating fresh mandate flow.

OpenAI is weighing legal action against Apple over what it sees as a lack of progress on their 2024 partnership to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone. The dispute points to growing tension among AI companies competing for distribution through major hardware platforms. Separately, lawyers for Elon Musk, OpenAI, and Microsoft delivered closing statements in the Musk v. OpenAI trial, with jury deliberations set for next week.

The Senate Banking Committee passed the Clarity Act, a crypto market structure bill that would set rules for issuance, trading, and custody and bring crypto markets closer to traditional securities markets. The bill advanced with bipartisan support. Adani and his nephew agreed to pay $18M to settle an SEC civil fraud case, with the DOJ dropping related criminal charges.

Where the Work Sits

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Cross-border M&A teams are busy across food, energy, and media as deals in the $1B-$4B range continue to move. The Ingredion-Tate & Lyle bid, ENEOS-Chevron APAC deal, and Sky-ITV talks are all generating corporate advisory, due diligence, and regulatory clearance work across multiple jurisdictions.

Capital markets and VC practices are seeing a surge of activity on the back of Cerebras’s $5.6B IPO and Anthropic’s $30B raise. These are some of the largest tech financing events of the year and involve high-end securities, governance, and fund formation work for multiple law firms.

Private credit restructurings are generating mandates as Blackstone, KKR, and Apollo address problem funds, while the UK pension risk transfer market is opening a new channel for insurance regulatory, fund structuring, and cross-border advisory work as US alternatives firms move to control £1.3 trillion in pension assets.

Litigation and regulatory teams have a full docket: OpenAI v. Apple could produce a major commercial dispute, Musk v. OpenAI heads to the jury, the Clarity Act will create new compliance and advisory demand for crypto-focused practices, and the DOJ’s law firm EO fight remains active at the D.C. Circuit.

Global Markets

Bond markets are flashing warning signals as inflation data complicates the rate outlook, while a US-China reset offers a rare positive for global trade.

Treasury yields surged, with the 30-year topping 5.1% for the first time in 12 months and the 10-year hitting a year-to-date high near 4.48%. US import and export prices jumped by the most since 2022, and Fed governor Stephen Miran resigned, while markets fully priced out a rate cut this year following Kevin Warsh’s confirmation as the next Fed chair. Brent crude held above $104 per barrel after Saudi output fell to its lowest since 1990.

The Trump-Xi summit in Beijing produced a framework of “constructive strategic stability,” a 200-jet Boeing order, and US clearance for Nvidia H200 chip sales to 10 Chinese firms. Both sides agreed the Strait of Hormuz must remain open. In the UK, gilts tumbled after Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham secured a path to challenge Keir Starmer as prime minister, with the pound falling 1% in its worst day in three months. Japan’s corporate goods prices surged by the most in 12 years, reinforcing expectations for a BOJ rate hike.

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.