Good afternoon,

It is Friday and Holland & Knight is on defense, hiring former litigation chief Peter Prieto of Podhurst Orseck to fight a $1.2 billion malpractice suit from MV Realty over homeowner benefit agreements that courts in several states have struck down. Lateral hiring was quiet, with Snell & Wilmer adding a private client partner in Phoenix.

On the client side, Silver Lake is in talks to take Workday private at about $43 billion, and Anthropic investors expect a $2 trillion IPO as soon as October. Charter cleared its $21.9 billion Cox deal with regulators, the Second Circuit revived a $6.7 billion suit against Bristol-Myers Squibb over delayed Celgene drugs, and US retail sales posted their biggest drop in more than a year.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

-Holland & Knight hires ex-litigation head Peter Prieto to defend a $1.2bn malpractice suit from MV Realty

-Silver Lake in talks to take Workday private at ~$43bn; EQT bids $4.9bn for Cleanaway and raises its Kakaku.com offer

-Anthropic investors eye a $2tn IPO by October; OpenAI’s revenue run-rate tops $40bn as its revenue chief exits after eight months

-Reddit joins the S&P 500; Vantage Data Centers explores a $100bn IPO or sale; Shein targets an Aug. 28 Hong Kong debut

-Second Circuit revives a $6.7bn suit against Bristol-Myers Squibb; Fifth Circuit sends Planned Parenthood to trial on $1.8bn Texas Medicaid claims

-Charter wins final approval for its $21.9bn Cox deal; a Washington judge bans most of Kalshi’s betting; SEC rejects Egan-Jones ratings expansion

-FBI seizes the phone of Guggenheim’s president in a fraud probe; an anti-DEI group files an FTC complaint against 15 firms’ fellowship program

-US retail sales fall 0.6% in July; the S&P 500 closes at a record; 30-year Treasuries clear at 5.216%, the highest since 2001

Talent Strategy

Latest Moves

• Snell & Wilmer hired Lisa Paine as a partner in its private client services practice in Phoenix.

What today's moves tell us: a quiet day for lateral hiring, with private client and wealth work still drawing partners as firms chase the wealth created by the AI boom.

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

Firms are spending as much time managing their own legal and reputational risk as their clients’, from malpractice defense to fellowship-program challenges and AI in court filings.

Holland & Knight turned to one of its own alumni, hiring former litigation head Peter Prieto of Podhurst Orseck to defend a $1.2 billion malpractice claim from MV Realty. The Florida real estate company says the firm’s advice on its homeowner benefit agreements—upfront payments in exchange for decades-long listing rights—exposed it to state enforcement actions and destroyed its business after courts slammed the early-termination fees. The suit is a reminder that firm-advisory work on novel consumer products can turn into large malpractice exposure when regulators move.

Firm hiring and diversity programs are drawing fresh scrutiny. An anti-DEI advocacy group filed an FTC complaint against nonprofit Sponsors for Educational Opportunity and 15 partner law firms, alleging the SEO legal fellowship amounts to false advertising and unlawful labor practices.

A separate signal on the profession’s guardrails came from Connecticut, where a judge sanctioned a self-represented plaintiff for embedding hidden text in filings meant to steer any AI reviewing the documents toward his position.

Practices

M&A and Private Equity

Sponsors and strategics are pressing ahead on large take-privates and cross-border bids while financing is open, a mix that points to a busier calendar of sell-side, financing, and antitrust mandates. Dealmakers are moving on complex carve-outs and contested auctions, and general counsel are watching how regulators condition approvals, exactly the conditions where sophisticated deal teams earn their fees.

Selected Press:

Capital Markets and IPOs

An AI-led issuance pipeline keeps building, and fund managers and boards are racing to lock in capital while valuations hold. Bankers and capital-markets teams are positioning for a heavy calendar of IPOs, block trades, and investment-grade debt, with the largest names alone capable of reshaping index flows and underwriting fee pools.

Selected Press:

Litigation and Enforcement

Courts are reopening large-dollar disputes and enforcement fronts across pharma, healthcare, and finance, and general counsel are recalibrating exposure. Revived deal-contingent claims and Medicaid-fraud trials point to sustained work for securities, product-liability, and white-collar teams.

Selected Press:

Regulatory and Governance

State courts and federal regulators are drawing sharper lines around prediction markets, ratings, and merger remedies, keeping deal-defense and compliance teams busy. Boards and sponsors are watching where regulators can slow strategy or reshape execution risk.

Selected Press:

Where the Work Sits

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Silver Lake-Workday, EQT-Cleanaway, Candle Lake-Evolution, and KKR-First Gen route work to M&A, financing, and antitrust teams, while Charter’s remedy-laden Cox approval shows how much value now sits in negotiating conditions with regulators. Complex cross-border and contested-auction structures are where sophisticated deal teams earn their fees.

Capital markets are another lane. An Anthropic listing near $2tn, OpenAI’s $40bn run-rate, Reddit’s index entry, Vantage’s $100bn IPO study, and Shein’s Hong Kong debut generate securities, fund-formation, and underwriting mandates, while AMD’s bond sale and Pershing Square’s pre-IPO vehicle keep debt and funds desks busy.

Disputes and enforcement are broadening. The revived $6.7bn Bristol-Myers claim turns a contingent-value-right dispute into live securities and M&A litigation; Planned Parenthood’s $1.8bn Texas trial and internal-investigation work; and the split over NLRB removal cases keeps labor and employment teams busy.

Regulatory friction is its own mandate pool. Kalshi’s Washington ban, the SEC’s Egan-Jones rejection, and the state-AG fight over HPE-Juniper show how prediction markets, ratings, and merger remedies keep deal-defense, licensing, and compliance teams engaged as governments insert themselves into deals and business models.

Global Markets

A record equity close sits alongside a weak consumer and the highest long-term borrowing costs in a generation, leaving clients to judge how open the financing window really is.

Executives are weighing whether a softer consumer keeps a Fed cut in view even as 30-year yields hit multi-decade highs, while sponsors track tariffs and cross-border flows for deal timing. Dealmakers are watching rising long-term rates and shareholder-rights debates as checks on financing costs and governance strategy, all a risk assessment strategy exercise.

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 newsletters that highlight the drivers of demand for legal services.