Wake Up Call: Davis Polk Advises on Musk Twitter Bid Financing

In today’s column, Skadden is reportedly considering reducing its office space in Chicago by half; litigation funder Validity Finance said it’s opening a Washington office led by a former Greenberg Traurig shareholder; Hunton Andrews Kurth launched an environmental justice practice group.

• Leading off, Davis Polk & Wardwell said in an email that it’s advising on $25.5 billion of the financing that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk announced yesterday for his $43 billion hostile takeover bid for Twitter Inc. The New York-headquartered law firm said it’s advising the joint lead arrangers in connection with a $6.5 billion senior secured term loan facility, a $500 million senior secured revolving credit facility, a $3 billion senior secured bridge facility and a $3 billion senior unsecured bridge facility. Davis Polk said it’s also advising the initial lenders under a margin loan facility of up to $12.5 billion that’s being provided to a finance vehicle formed by Musk. Musk is getting advice on the deal from McDermott, Will & Emory. (BLAW)
• As law firms continue to adjust to a post-pandemic workplace, Skadden Arps is reportedly mulling reducing its office footprint by half in Chicago in a move out of its Wacker Drive office to another office tower in the city. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
• Two former Moscow-based partners of White & Case and Linklaters, now at Russian firm Chernyshov Lukoyanov & Partners, have filed class actions in Moscow against Apple and Netflix over their suspension of services in Russia. (Law.com International via The Recorder)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Gross revenues at Fox Rothschild rose 7.3% to $647.8 million in 2021, as a big year for the Philadelphia-founded firm’s corporate practices helped compensate for its “basically flat” year for litigation. Average profits per equity partner rose 8.7% to $912,206, this report says. (Legal Intelligencer)
• Hunton Andrews Kurth said it launched a multidisciplinary practice group advising clients on environmental justice, which calls for companies and agencies to consider the impact that industrial developments have on communities. The firm also launched a webinar series on the issue, which the Biden administration has cited as a policy focus. (HuntonAk.com)
• Cooley partner and litigation department leader Travis LeBlanc revealed his partnership income as part of his mandatory disclosure as a Biden administration nominee to a second term on the U.S. government’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. LeBlanc, vice-chair of Cooley’s cyber, data and privacy practice, reported $7.5 million in earnings at the firm. (National Law Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Another litigation finance firm is setting up in Washington. Validity Finance said it’s opening a D.C. office led by former Greenberg Traurig disputes shareholder Nicole Silver. Validity, which already has offices in New York, Houston, Chicago, and Tel Aviv, also named Washington antitrust and commercial litigator and Wiley Rien founding partner Bert Rein as a senior adviser. Litigation funder Omni Bridgeway, formerly known as Bentham IMF, launched a Washington office in February. (ValidityFinance.com)
• Two Florida-based private equity lawyers said they’ve launched a Washington law boutique focused on plaintiff and claimant-side litigation and litigation finance matters, Ivenio Law. The firm’s managing parter Ed Gehres, general counsel of Miami-based investment platform 777 Partners, according to his LinkedIn profile, was a product liability lawyer at Arnold & Porter and later a litigation partner at Patton Boggs. Partner Blake Trueblood is also general counsel at litigation funder Justice Funds LLC. (IvenioLaw.com)
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius poached London-based structured transactions partner Rick Hanson from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. He advises alternative investment funds and asset managers on structured finance, securitization, and bespoke finance solutions; Goodwin Procter grabbed Kirkland & Ellis financial restructuring partner Alexander Nicas as a partner in New York. (GoodwinLaw.com)

Technology

• Foley & Lardner is advising NBA teams the Milwaukee Bucks and Utah Jazz on their launches of NFT (non-fungible token) collections. (Foley.com)