Good afternoon,

Paul Hastings is overhauling its global associate training program to build AI fluency, business development, and leadership skills from day one — a bet that the next generation of BigLaw lawyers will need a different toolkit. The move comes as Ford general counsel Steven Croley pushes outside counsel to deliver real AI-related cost savings, and a Bloomberg Law survey shows firms are adopting AI tools at a pace that now matches other core attorney software.

On the client side, SpaceX is in talks to sell $20 billion in investment-grade bonds, UniCredit has locked up more than 42.5% of Commerzbank in a $50 billion hostile bid, EQT is taking UK testing firm Intertek private for $12.4 billion, and AbbVie is nearing an $11 billion cash deal for Apogee Therapeutics. Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed over the weekend, though 17 million barrels of oil still flowed through on Saturday and US-Iran talks in Switzerland showed “major progress.”

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

-Paul Hastings Overhauls Associate Training / Ford GC Croley Pushes Firms on AI Cost Savings

-King & Spalding’s Opportunistic Arbitration Coup in London

-SpaceX in talks to sell $20 billion in bonds / UniCredit’s $50B Commerzbank Bid / EQT Takes Intertek Private for $12.4B / AbbVie Eyes $11B Apogee Deal

-Castlelake Goes Directly to easyJet Shareholders After £4.7B Rejection

-RICO Lawsuits Against Plaintiffs’ Firms Hit 20+ / Ford Sues Law Firm Over $25M Billing Fraud

-Trump Rebuilds Tariff Wall After SCOTUS Strikes / Section 301 Probe Targets German Pharma

-Iran/Hormuz Rhetoric vs. Reality / UK PM Starmer Resigns / Warsh Signals Inflation Priority

-PCE Inflation Gauge, Fed Stress Tests, and FedEx/Micron Earnings This Week

Talent Strategy

Latest Moves

King & Spalding’s managing partner Tom Sprange KC said this week that the firm’s hire of arbitration heavyweight Gary Born alongside a seven-partner team from WilmerHale was not the result of a long-term recruitment blueprint — it came down to timing. The move builds what K&S calls a “peerless” international arbitration practice in London and represents one of the largest team lifts in the disputes market this year.

What today's moves tell us: A quieter lateral day follows last week’s heavy movement, but King & Spalding’s London team hire shows how opportunistic timing drives the biggest platform plays in international arbitration.

Operations and Strategy

AI is moving from experiment to expectation across BigLaw from how associates are trained to what corporate clients demand.

Paul Hastings is rethinking its entire global associate training program to include AI, business development, leadership, and commercial awareness from day one. The firm is preparing junior lawyers for careers in a profession where technical legal skill alone is no longer enough to build a practice.

Ford general counsel Steven Croley is pressing firms harder, writing that Ford “will look for — and reward — entrepreneurial approaches by external counsel both big and small” when it comes to AI-driven cost savings. Ford is deploying AI internally but is not yet seeing rate relief from outside counsel. Bloomberg notes that AI tools are now as commonplace as other core attorney software at major firms, but the gap between adoption and client-facing value is where the pressure sits.

Practices

M&A and Capital Markets

Mega deals and cross-border deal flow are picking up. Executives and sponsors are pushing forward on large-scale transactions even as tariff uncertainty and geopolitical risk add layers of complexity that expand advisory mandates and raise execution risk for deal teams.

Selected Press:

Litigation, Investigations, and Regulatory

Litigation mandates are expanding in volume and complexity. Companies are getting more aggressive in using RICO and fraud claims against plaintiffs’ counsel, while regulatory battles over AI, export controls, and consumer protection are generating significant new workstreams for Big Law.

Selected Press:

Technology and IP

AI deal-making and talent shifts are creating a wave of advisory work around licensing, export controls, and cross-border regulatory compliance.

Selected Press:

Where the Work Sits

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Today’s biggest matters sit at the intersection of regulatory complexity and cross-border execution. Firms that can staff teams across trade, M&A, capital markets, and government affairs are positioned to win mandates that less diversified competitors cannot handle.

The volume of litigation-side work is also rising fast. Companies are not just defending anymore, they are going on offense against plaintiffs’ firms, and the AI-privilege ruling in Texas is opening a new frontier that will generate litigation work for years.

For associates tracking where hours are growing: AI regulatory work, cross-border M&A execution, and PE-backed take-privates are the three areas adding headcount and expanding rate realization right now.

Global Markets

Clients and dealmakers are watching for signs of confidence across markets and geopolitical developments as they assess next moves across debt and equity transactions while Big Law leaders seek to track client risk to figure out where the work lands and which offices will staff it.

• US and Iran agreed on a roadmap to finalize a peace deal within 60 days.

• UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned today. Andy Burnham is the front runner to replace Starmer.

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.