Good morning,

Davis Polk is pushing into Los Angeles with plans for a full-service office, Proskauer added a restructuring partner in New York, and Latham & Watkins picked up a white collar partner in Chicago. The latest Law Firm Financial Index shows the aggregate BigLaw market trendline pointing down in 2026, with global conflicts weighing on both dealmaking and restructuring pipelines.

On the client side, Broadcom is raising roughly $35 billion in fresh financing led by Apollo and Blackstone, Cerebras priced its IPO at a $40 billion valuation, and Kevin Warsh was confirmed as Fed chair in the narrowest Senate vote in Fed history. Meanwhile, the DOJ heads to the D.C. Circuit for the next round of the Trump law firm executive order fight.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

-Davis Polk Plans Full-Service LA Office / Proskauer, Latham Add Partners in New York and Chicago

-Law Firm Financial Index Trends Down in 2026 / DOJ Preps for D.C. Circuit Law Firm EO Battle

-Broadcom’s $35B Financing Round / Cerebras Prices $5.5B IPO at $40B Valuation

-Private Credit Under Pressure: MUFG Offloads Risk, Loan Markdowns Rise, Banks Win Back Share

-Warsh Confirmed as Fed Chair / Trump-Xi Summit in Beijing / US PPI at Highest Since 2022

-UK GDP Peaks Early as War Headwinds and Political Turmoil Build / ECB Debates June Rate Hike

-Gold Mining M&A Surges: Equinox-Orla $5.1B Deal Leads Record Year

Talent Strategy

What today's moves tell us: Firms are adding bench strength in restructuring, white collar, and competition—practices tied to rising geopolitical and credit stress.

-Proskauer hired restructuring partner Josh Sturm in New York.

-Morgan Lewis recruited Sarah Engle for its practice.

-Latham & Watkins added white collar defense & investigations partner Ryan Rohlfsen in Chicago.

-King & Spalding brought on two partners in London: corporate real estate partner Ray Fang from Goodwin and competition specialist Jade-Alexandra Fearns from Paul Hastings.

-Freshfields appointed a new UK managing partner; current London City chief Mark Sansom will move to a global client partner role.

Operational Strategy

Elite firms are planting flags in new markets while the broader industry faces a tougher revenue environment shaped by conflict-driven uncertainty.

Davis Polk is planning a full-service office in Los Angeles. Chair Neil Barr said the firm’s current footprint limited its ability to recruit certain talent. Opening in LA is designed to remove those barriers and broaden the firm’s West Coast corporate and litigation bench.

The latest Law Firm Financial Index shows the aggregate BigLaw market trendline pointing down in 2026. Global wars and instability are affecting both dealmaking and restructuring practices, with the conflict in Iran creating a drag on cross-border M&A confidence while simultaneously generating restructuring mandates in energy-exposed sectors.

The DOJ is headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for the next round of the Trump administration’s battle against law firms. The arguments represent a key test for how far executive orders targeting firms will go. WilmerHale and Jenner & Block were among the first firms to file briefs in the consolidated appeal.

Practices

M&A and Capital Markets

A busy stretch for dealmaking across tech, mining, and energy, with several billion-dollar transactions moving forward.

Cerebras Systems priced its IPO above the marketed range, raising $5.5 billion at roughly a $40 billion valuation. Demand exceeded 20 times available shares. SoftBank and Arm made a last-minute offer to acquire the AI chipmaker weeks before the listing, but were rebuffed. Equinox Gold agreed to buy Orla Mining in a $5.1 billion stock deal—the largest gold mining transaction of 2026. Mining M&A value is up about 80% this year to over $45 billion, on pace for the biggest year in more than a decade. Intertek is leaning toward recommending EQT’s fourth and final offer of £9.2 billion ($12.5 billion). Allegiant Airlines closed its $1.5 billion acquisition of Sun Country.

Private Credit and Restructuring

Stress signals are building in private credit, with both lenders and borrowers adjusting to a tighter environment.

Broadcom is working to raise roughly $35 billion in fresh financing, with Apollo and Blackstone leading a group of private credit firms competing for one of the sector’s biggest-ever deals. The financing is tied to AI infrastructure spending. At the same time, private credit direct lending volumes shrank 14% to about $61 billion in Q1, per JPMorgan and Kroll data, while banks posted 12.7% growth—the fastest since 2022. MUFG is seeking to offload risk tied to $2 billion of private credit loans as the sector comes under strain. Private credit funds have marked down more than a tenth of their loans by at least 50%, per MSCI. KKR is injecting $300 million into a struggling fund and waiving incentive fees. Braskem Idesa is nearing a $250 million DIP loan for a Chapter 11 filing.

Litigation and Government Investigations

The Trump administration’s executive orders targeting law firms face their next court test, while discrimination and governance disputes add to the litigation docket.

The D.C. Circuit is weighing the Trump law firm executive orders, with the DOJ filing arguments in the consolidated appeal. DLA Piper was sued for discrimination by a Palestinian lawyer, per Bloomberg Law. Separately, SKECHERS raised its offer to resolve a hedge fund lawsuit challenging 3G Capital’s $9.4 billion leveraged buyout by 3.2% above the LBO price. An Apollo restructuring judge was hit with a recusal bid over a Skadden connection.

Where the Work Sits

The Broadcom financing and Cerebras IPO are generating high-end capital markets and fund formation mandates for firms with deep sponsor and tech client relationships. The wave of mining M&A—led by the $5.1 billion Equinox-Orla deal—is pulling cross-border M&A and regulatory work into firms with natural resources practices.

Private credit stress is creating billable restructuring and workout matters across New York and London. MUFG’s risk transfer, KKR’s fund injection, and rising markdowns are all generating advisory work around credit documentation, fund governance, and lender negotiations. Banks winning back market share from direct lenders adds regulatory and capital markets work on the institutional side.

The D.C. Circuit law firm EO arguments are driving litigation and constitutional work at firms targeted by the orders and across the broader AmLaw 100. DLA Piper’s discrimination suit and the SKECHERS LBO challenge add to the litigation pipeline. The Apollo restructuring judge’s recusal bid creates satellite work around judicial conflicts in large-scale insolvency matters.

The Trump-Xi summit will soon generate trade, sanctions, and export control mandates—particularly around AI chip sales and US-China investment screening.

Global Markets

Central bank transitions, hot inflation data, and geopolitical summits are reshaping the rate outlook and deal confidence across major economies.

The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chair in a 54-45 vote—the narrowest confirmation in Fed history. Warsh faces political pressure from President Trump to cut rates, but the bond market is moving in the other direction: US 30-year Treasuries auctioned at 5% yields for the first time since 2007, the 10-year briefly hit 4.50%, and market-implied odds of a December rate hike climbed to about 39%. April PPI surged 6% year-on-year—the largest annual gain since December 2022—driven by a 7.8% jump in final demand energy prices linked to the Iran war. US retail sales rose 0.5% in April, the third straight monthly gain.

In Europe, the UK posted 0.6% GDP growth in Q1—its best in a year—but economists expect the pace to stall as higher energy costs and political turmoil under PM Starmer weigh on the outlook. UK 30-year yields hit levels not seen since 1998. The ECB is debating a June rate hike, with governing council members split on whether oil-driven inflation warrants tighter policy. Eurozone Q1 GDP came in at 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, missing estimates. A BOJ board member called for rate hikes at the earliest stage possible. President Trump is in Beijing for a summit with Xi Jinping, with tariffs, Iran, and AI chip exports on the agenda. The Pentagon revised its Iran war cost estimate up to $29 billion.

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.