Nearly 16,000 deals involving at least one American party have been announced in the first six months of this year, roughly half as many again as in the same periods in 2016-20 . Many involved novel legal structures such as special-purpose acquisition companies , which list on a stock exchange in order to reverse-merge with a promising startup. On top of that, lockdowns have introduced fresh legal wrinkles .
The billable-hour bonanza has left firms with more money to lure new recruits. That is just as well. With the supply of legal professionals limited by elite law schools’ refusal to admit many more students, firms are engaged in a fierce battle for talent. Last month Milbank, another big firm, raised its starting salaries for new associates from the industry standard of $190,000 to $200,000. A day later Davis Polk offered freshman lawyers $202,500.
Poaching is rampant at all levels of these organisations. McDermott Will & Emery, a fast-growing firm from Chicago, hired six new outside partners in May alone. Even firms famous for staff loyalty, such as Cravath, Swaine & Moore or Wachtell, have lost lawyers to rivals. A senior partner at a large firm says he begins his day by opening emails from recruiters inquiring about his availability. He then peruses career announcements in legal periodicals.
Not all elite American firms have prospered in the pandemic. The current conditions have favoured partnerships with expertise in complex transactions, such as Wachtell or Davis Polk. Some generalists have done less well. Profits per partner at Baker McKenzie, a Chicago-based giant, declined by nearly 10% in 2020. The dealmaking specialists could suffer if the merger-and-acquisition boom peters out.
Managing partners are therefore thinking about what comes next. Mayer Brown is expanding its restructuring and bankruptcy practice, perhaps in anticipation of an end to government stimulus programmes that have kept many businesses afloat. Many others are beefing up their antitrust and regulatory practices as President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party in Congress threaten to regulate big business and go after dominant companies, from Silicon Valley to Wall Street.
Why if nothing is ever changing in this country, we want change not propagandists.
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Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »