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Simpson Thacher pulled another partner from Kirkland & Ellis into its new capital structure solutions practice, while Steptoe lifted a four-partner international trade team from Winston & Strawn in Washington. Restructuring and finance laterals continue to dominate the board, with Gibson Dunn, Proskauer, and Willkie all adding from rivals in New York and Chicago.

On the client side, CVC Capital Partners agreed to buy Italian drugmaker Recordati for more than $12 billion, EQT tabled a GBP 9.2 billion take-private offer for Intertek, and Estee Lauder and Puig walked away from their multibillion-dollar merger. Kevin Warsh takes over as Fed chair tomorrow, oil is back above $106 on Iran deal skepticism, and the Dow closed at a record 50,285.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

Today’s Talking Points

-Simpson Thacher Adds Sixth Kirkland Lateral / Steptoe Lifts Four-Partner Trade Team from Winston / Quinn Emanuel Hit with $3M Sanction

-Gibson Dunn and Davis Polk Steer SpaceX IPO / OpenAI Assembles Deep Bench for Listing

-CVC/GBL Buy Recordati for $12B+ / EQT Tables GBP 9.2B Intertek Take-Private / Estee Lauder-Puig Deal Collapses

-SCOTUS Rules Against Cruise Lines in Cuba Seizure Case / Goldman Settles 1MDB for $500M

-European Private Credit Stress Rising / Take-Private Pipeline Grows

-Kevin Warsh Takes Fed Chair Friday / Oil Above $106 on Iran Skepticism / Eurozone and UK PMIs in Contraction

Talent Strategy

Latest Moves

-Marten Olsson (banking/credit) joined Simpson Thacher from Kirkland & Ellis in New York - the sixth Kirkland partner to join the firm's new capital structure solutions practice.

-Steptoe added a four-partner international trade team from Winston & Strawn in Washington: Cari Stinebower, Christopher Man, Mariana Pendas Fernandez, and Dainia Jabaji.

-Josh Sturm (restructuring) joined Proskauer from Davis Polk in New York.

-Gibson Dunn added Matthew Roose (restructuring) from Ropes & Gray in New York.

-Gregory Gartland and April Doxey (finance/restructuring) left Winston & Strawn for Willkie in Chicago.

-Orrick hired Alaine Decombe and Vianney Toulouse (life sciences M&A) from Dechert in Paris.

-Carson Young (complex commercial litigation) joined Latham from Kirkland in Houston.

What today's moves tell us: Restructuring, finance, and trade practices are absorbing the bulk of lateral activity, with Simpson Thacher continuing to raid Kirkland for its new capital structure solutions build-out.

Operational Strategy

Major mandates are shaping firm positioning this week, with elite firms winning market share across IPO advisory work.

OpenAI is assembling one of the largest Big Law rosters in recent memory as it juggles high-stakes litigation and prepares for a potential fall IPO. According to Thomson Reuters, the firm's legal bench now includes Cooley, Latham, Munger Tolles, Wilson Sonsini, Keker Van Nest, Wachtell, and Morrison Foerster. Simpson Thacher led for Blackstone on a $5 billion investment in a Google AI data center joint venture, per Legal Business.

On the one-time account expense category, Quinn Emanuel was hit with a $3 million sanction after a US court found the firm prioritized winning over acting ethically, with mandatory ethics training ordered. Separately, a federal jury found Baker Donelson failed to supervise a lawyer/lobbyist involved in multimillion-dollar fraud. And De Brauw shuttered its Shanghai office, ending a 16-year China presence.

Practices

M&A and Private Equity

European deal flow is picking up, with two $12 billion-plus transactions on the board and a growing take-private pipeline fueled by stock market volatility.

CVC Capital Partners and GBL agreed to buy Italian drugmaker Recordati for more than $12 billion, one of the biggest healthcare deals in Europe this year. EQT bid GBP 60 per share for London-listed Intertek Group, valuing the product testing company at around GBP 9.2 billion ($12.5 billion). Intertek said it was minded to recommend the offer. Lone Star Funds is also exploring a sale of IKB Deutsche Industriebank, with Credit Agricole among early bidders.

Estee Lauder and Spanish company Puig Brands walked away from their multibillion-dollar merger without reaching agreement. In media, James Murdoch is buying New York Magazine, Vox.com, and its podcast network for over $300 million. IMAX is also exploring a potential sale after being approached by entertainment companies.

Litigation and Courts

The Supreme Court handed down a major ruling on Cuban property seizures, while settlements and sanctions added to an active litigation docket.

The US Supreme Court sided against four cruise lines - including Royal Caribbean and Carnival - in a case brought by Havana Docks Corporation over use of property seized by the Castro regime. The ruling, under the Helms-Burton Act, upheld $440 million in combined judgments and opens the door to further claims arising from decades-old Cuban nationalizations.

Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $500 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit over the 1MDB scandal. Meta settled the first US case over school costs tied to youth mental health with a Kentucky school district. Apple asked the Supreme Court to review a contempt order in the Epic Games antitrust lawsuit, and Texas sued Meta and WhatsApp over encryption privacy claims.

Regulatory and Government

The White House pulled back an AI executive order, immigration court removals are drawing legal challenges, and the consumer finance regulator keeps shrinking.

The White House postponed an executive order that would have created a voluntary review framework for advanced AI models before public release. The impetus was Anthropic's Mythos model, which the company deemed too powerful for unrestricted release. A wave of lawsuits from fired immigration judges is testing how far presidential removal authority extends over executive-branch judges, with at least 113 fired and 77 new hires sworn in. The CFPB is moving to a smaller headquarters as its workforce has been cut roughly in half to about 556 employees.

Private Credit and Restructuring

Stress signals are building in European private credit, with deferred interest payments and rising default indicators.

"Bad" PIK - payment-in-kind interest where borrowers defer cash payments because they cannot afford them - rose to 7.8% among European private credit borrowers in Q1, up from 7.3% the prior quarter and 6.6% a year ago. Lincoln International calls this a "shadow default rate." At the same time, direct lenders are offering "good" PIK to win mandates in a competitive market, blurring the line between distress and deal sweetener.

Where the Work Sits

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The CVC/Recordati deal and EQT's Intertek bid are generating high-end M&A, regulatory, and antitrust mandates across London and continental Europe. The Estee Lauder-Puig collapse leaves advisers to unwind preliminary work, while the growing take-private pipeline - fueled by stock market volatility and PE dry powder - is creating a steady flow of corporate and leveraged finance advisory work.

The SCOTUS cruise line ruling under the Helms-Burton Act opens the door for further claims tied to Cuban nationalizations, a potentially large pool of commercial litigation. The Goldman 1MDB settlement, Meta school-harm case, and Apple-Epic SCOTUS petition all represent significant fee mandates across securities litigation, product liability, and antitrust. The Texas encryption suit against Meta adds to what is becoming a multi-state privacy enforcement push.

Rising PIK rates in European private credit are a leading indicator of restructuring work. As shadow default rates climb, firms with deep restructuring benches in London and New York stand to benefit.

Global Markets

Warsh takes the Fed chair on Friday, oil is climbing on Iran deal skepticism, and business activity is contracting across Europe.

Kevin Warsh becomes Federal Reserve chair on Friday, pledging the biggest institutional shakeup since Volcker. Central banks across the G7 are scrambling to prevent a supply shock from fueling a broader inflation spike, with the Reserve Bank of Australia already delivering three rate cuts. Markets are pricing a roughly 40% chance of a 25bp Fed rate hike by December. The Dow closed at a record 50,285, the S&P 500 added 0.17%, and the 10-year US Treasury yield sits at 4.586%.

Oil prices climbed 3%, with Brent topping $106 per barrel as Iran deal skepticism returned after Khamenei ordered that enriched uranium stockpiles must not leave the country. US mortgage rates hit a nine-month high of 6.51%. Across Europe, the Eurozone composite PMI fell to 47.5 and the UK PMI dropped to 48.5 - both in contraction territory. Japan's core inflation cooled to 1.4% in April, the lowest in over four years. The UK signed a trade pact with six Gulf nations expected to add $5 billion to the economy.

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.