Good afternoon,

Paul Hastings and Weil are stocking their equity-side benches. Paul Hastings took capital-markets partner Jean Park from Cooley and ex-FTC official Lisa DeMarchi Sleigh for antitrust, while Weil added two private equity partners in San Francisco even as at least four more of its PE partners head to Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher. Greenberg Traurig grabbed a Kirkland private-funds partner in New York.

On the client side, Kevin Warsh used Jackson Hole to signal the Fed may hike in September, sending two-year yields up and stocks down. Dealmakers pushed summer M&A near $1tn, KKR agreed to sell USI to Aon for about $17bn, and the US moved to take majority control of a slice of Venezuela’s oil as US-Iran strikes resumed.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

-Paul Hastings builds its equity-capital-markets and antitrust bench with Jean Park and Lisa DeMarchi Sleigh

-Weil adds two PE partners in San Francisco as four more depart for Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher

-Greenberg Traurig takes Kirkland private-funds partner Sheldon Hunt Laing in New York

-Warsh’s hawkish Jackson Hole speech lifts September rate-hike odds; two-year yields jump

-Summer dealmaking nears $1tn; KKR sells USI Insurance to Aon for about $17bn

-PE-backed software borrowers extend maturities at higher rates to outlast the AI threat

-Private-credit strains surface at Australia’s Bathla and Aberdeen’s Airband fund

-US moves to take 55% of a Venezuelan oil JV as Caracas weighs an OPEC exit

Talent Strategy

Latest Moves

What today's moves tell us: Firms are paying up for equity-capital-markets, private equity, and private-funds talent, and Weil’s partnership is a clear example of this market opportunity. The through-line is portable, platform-defining talent in ECM.

Check our Rolodex newsletter delivered on Monday at 7:30 am for a weekly overview of the lateral market and executive moves.

Operations and Strategy

Weil’s private equity churn is the operational story: a top-tier platform defending a core practice while rivals pick at it.

Weil is adding on the West Coast while defending New York. The two San Francisco hires from Dechert and Kirkland strengthen its bench as tech and AI sponsor work builds, but the simultaneous loss of at least four partners to Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher shows how hard elite firms are competing for senior private equity talent. For Weil’s management, retention economics now matter as much as recruiting.

Paul Hastings offers the counter-model. The market has seen this pattern before: firms that keep hiring when deal volumes sag tend to hold the stronger bench when volumes return. Chair Frank Lopez credits corporate laterals hired in the slower 2022-23 stretch for the firm’s current equity-side gains, which is now feeding recruitment, conflicts, and client-transition work.

Practices

M&A and International Trade

Sponsors are both selling and buying, and the activity is showing in the volume trend. Dealmakers pushed announced M&A and equity-capital-markets activity close to $1tn across July and August, and KKR’s roughly $17bn sale of USI to Aon shows sponsors clearing mature assets while the window holds. For M&A, financing, and antitrust teams, a full pipeline of sponsor exits points to a busier fall of sale processes, carve-outs, and merger reviews. Cinven’s compliance rebuild after a UK pricing fine is a reminder that regulatory posture now travels with the fund.

Selected Press:

Capital Markets

The financing window is open and being used hard. Zero-interest convertibles are set for a record year, and issuers from Samsung Biologics to Blackstone are tapping equity and rights markets while conditions hold, even as investors accept thinner protections on AI-linked convertibles. For capital-markets and structured-finance counsel, record issuance paired with looser terms means more deals to negotiate and more scrutiny of disclosure. AI financing is its own workstream: Broadcom could raise more than $100bn in debt to fund AI chips for Anthropic and others.

Selected Press:

Restructuring and Private Credit

Stress is showing at the edges of the private-credit boom. PE-backed software companies are extending debt maturities rather than refinancing, paying higher rates and accepting tighter covenants as lenders weigh whether AI will erode their businesses; roughly $40bn of speculative-grade software debt comes due in 2028. Australia’s Bathla Group fell into insolvency owing $2.4bn mostly to private-credit funds, and Aberdeen took a $272m hit after Airband collapsed. In situations like these the near-term risk is less about credit quality than about funding, which is where liability-management and creditor-rights teams get pulled in first.

Selected Press:

Litigation and Regulatory

Consumer-tech and privacy liability keep converting into balance-sheet risk and fee awards, potentially having an effect on AI Capex if there are billion dollar fines. A California court awarded $146.7m in fees to the firms that beat Google in a privacy class action, and Meta is running a public campaign pressuring TikTok, YouTube, and Snap to add teen-safety features after its own $18bn state settlement. State antitrust is also live: California’s business lobby narrowed a proposed expansion of the state’s antitrust law before Monday’s deadline. For litigation, privacy, and antitrust teams, the pattern points to more class actions, more state-level enforcement, and higher-stakes fee fights.

Selected Press:

Where the Work Sits

***

Private equity is where the high-end matters sit. In past cycles, a backlog of sponsor exits clearing at once, as a near-$1tn summer, KKR’s USI sale, and live processes at The AA, Nemera, and Brazos Midstream suggest, has fed sell-side M&A, acquisition financing, and merger-control review, with fund-formation and compliance work trailing behind.

Capital markets and restructuring are pulling in opposite directions at once. Record convertible issuance and Broadcom’s $100bn AI-chip financing feed securities and structured-finance desks, while software maturity extensions, Bathla’s insolvency, and the Airband hit send the workout matters to liability-management and creditor-rights teams.

Consumer-tech liability keeps generating billable litigation. The $147m Google fee, Meta’s pressure campaign on rivals, and shifting state antitrust rules point to more privacy, product-liability, and antitrust mandates for the firms that advise across corporate America.

Rates tie it together. If the Fed hikes in September, refinancing and liability-management timelines compress, and boards facing tighter financing lean harder on trusted counsel for deal structuring and workout planning.

Global Markets

Warsh turned hawkish at Jackson Hole, and markets are now pricing a live September hike. Clients are recalculating financing timelines. Kevin Warsh used his Jackson Hole keynote to say inflation hasn’t slowed enough and the Fed “has work to do,” pushing two-year yields up, flattening the curve, and lifting the odds of a September move; economists at Barclays, SocGen, and Santander now lean toward a hike.

Clients are weighing whether to lock financing and price deals before the September 16-17 meeting, while boards with energy and sanctions exposure track resumed US-Iran strikes and the US move on Venezuelan oil. Decision-makers are also watching Friday’s payrolls for confirmation.

Selected Press:

Stories to Watch

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 content that highlights demand for legal services. Certain production processes may be supported by proprietary AI tools and are subject to human editorial judgement and review.