Hollywood has made some expensive blockbusters, but few have assembled a legal cast quite like Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal closed on 6 October after approvals in nearly 70 jurisdictions and one very public fight in federal court.
The combined company now trades as Skydance. It may take Burbank a while to start calling it that.
The Deal Lawyers
Power Points – This week, at its first user conference in San Francisco, legal AI company IVO did something none of the legal AI heavyweights have been willing to do by releasing a contract-trained AI model that anyone can download, poke at and build on, for free. (The full announcement is here.) Min-Kyu Jung, a
BigLaw’s next recruiting war may not be over lawyers at all. Cooley is recruiting for 14 technology positions as it builds Cooley AI, its recently created AI subsidiary, according to Reuters. The firm is looking for engineers and other technology specialists as it develops its own AI capabilities rather than simply buying whatever legal-tech vendors
BigLaw Is Hiring Engineers While Cutting Junior Lawyers Read More »
Quinn Emanuel is rolling out the heavy artillery in the UK’s largest-ever group litigation. The litigation powerhouse has drafted Richard East, the founding and senior partner of its London office, into the sprawling £36 billion Mariana dam disaster case against mining giant BHP. The Mariana litigation has turned into one of the fiercest law-firm territory
Key Facts Sullivan & Cromwell has once again struck at the heart of Weil Gotshal’s London leadership, securing top corporate heavyweights David Avery-Gee and Sarah Flaherty in another high-profile City raid. Avery-Gee, who co-managed Weil’s London hub and led its corporate and M&A bench, will step in as co-head of European M&A for S&C alongside
S&C Raids Weil London Again And City Dealmaker David Avery-Gee Departs Read More »
KEY TAKEAWAY: While law firms spend heroic sums teaching partners to build a “personal brand”, Massachusetts defence lawyer Kevin Reddington has stumbled on a simpler formula. Be very good in court, be unmistakably yourself, and let TikTok do the rest. Kevin Reddington is not the obvious prototype for a legal influencer. He is 75. He
The largest plaintiff firm in America has unveiled MX2, a proprietary AI platform it says has been running at scale for years, alongside a minimum $1 billion technology commitment over the next decade. The proportions of that bet, not the headline number, are what BigLaw should be reading twice. In short: Morgan & Morgan, the
Private equity-backed Lawfront is stepping harder on the consolidation accelerator, adding two more regional law firms as its acquisition count reaches 18 in five years and projected group revenue hits £175 million. The fast-growing UK legal services group has announced that Fisher Jones Greenwood has acquired 35-strong South Essex firm Giles Wilson, while Lancashire-based Farleys
Lawfront Hits £175m As Private Equity Legal Roll-Up Adds Two More Firms Read More »
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citi are asking a rather uncomfortable question of their outside lawyers: if AI is making legal work faster, why aren’t the bills getting smaller?
Power Points
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are pushing major law firms to demonstrate how AI efficiencies are being reflected in their legal bills.
Citi has begun asking firms bidding for work to explain their AI-related savings, while Morgan Stanley is moving much of its outside legal work toward competitive bidding and alternative fee arrangements.
The pressure goes directly to the BigLaw leverage model, where armies of associates traditionally generated large volumes of billable hours.
New LexisNexis research shows 94 per cent of lawyers now use AI for legal work and 55 per cent expect AI to change law firm billing.
The battle is shifting from whether lawyers should use AI to a much more interesting question: who gets the financial benefit?
For the past few years BigLaw has been enthusiastically telling anyone within PowerPoint range that artificial intelligence will transform legal practice and clients have been listening.
Big Law Firms Have Been Keeping the AI Savings – Now Wall Street Wants Them Back Read More »
Sydney solicitor has demanded that the Australian Financial Review remove an article naming barristers who have repeatedly applied for silk, arguing the paper has turned a selection process closed to the public into a searchable record of rejection.
Jacob Carswell-Doherty, of Jake McKinley, (pictured) wrote to AFR editor-in-chief James Chessell on 28 August, the day after publication of “Meet the barristers who apply for silk year in, year out” by legal affairs reporter Janek Drevikovsky.
His complaint is not that the AFR examined the silk selection process. It is the table naming this year’s applicants and setting beside each name the number of times that person has applied since 2016.
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