Wake Up Call: Davis Polk Leads Global 2020 M&A Advice Ranking

In today’s column, Nelson Mullins said client conflicts killed its planned merger with e-discovery firm Redgrave; big Midwest firm Dinsmore & Shohl merged with a 47-lawyer Indiana firm; with companies expecting antitrust action to heat up under the incoming Biden administration, Kirkland & Ellis grabbed a Goodwin antitrust co-chair as a partner in Washington.

• Leading off, Davis Polk & Wardwell was the top firm globally for M&A advising last year, according to preliminary data from Refinitiv, which reports an 88% second-half surge in global M&A activity to $2 trillion, after a 41% plunge caused by the pandemic in the year’s first six months. Full year 2020 M&A was down 5% to $3.6 trillion. Latham & Watkins leads the report’s U.S. M&A advisory rankings, while Freshfields leads for Europe and the Asia Pacific. (Refinitiv)
• South Carolina headquartered Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and D.C.-based Redgrave said client conflicts sank their planned merger, which would have created one of the biggest information governance and discovery law practices in the U.S. Nelson Mullins had planned to combine Redgrave’s attorneys, directors, and advisers with its Encompass practice effective Dec. 1 to form Encompass Redgrave. (American Lawyer)
• Just before Christmas, Katten Muchin matched the Cravath scale for 2020 bonuses, and it’s also offering extra money for “superstar” billers, Above the Law reported. (Above the Law)
• A surge in Covid infections and deaths is raising new doubts about when jury trials will resume in New York’s state courts. (New York Law Journal)

Biden Transition, Election Litigation

• A Foley & Lardner spokesman said the firm is “working to understand more thoroughly” partner Cleta Mitchell’s role in President Donald Trump’s bizarre Jan. 2 conference call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. (BLAW)
• A profile of Ryan Germany, the general counsel to Georgia’s secretary of state, who joined Raffensperger on the call in refuting Trump’s allegations of voter fraud in Georgia. (Daily Report Online)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Dinsmore & Shohl, a 700-lawyer national firm that has offices in 29 cities, is merging with Indianapolis-based Wooden McLaughlin LLP, which has 47 attorneys across Indiana. (IBJ.com)
• King & Spalding said its chairman Robert D. Hays, Jr. began his sixth three-year term on Jan. 1, 2021. (KSLaw.com)
• Dykema’s new chairman and chief executive officer Len Wolfe started his first three-year term starting Jan. 1. (Dykema)
• Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart & Sullivan opened a new four-partner office in Austin, Texas, for which it hired two partners. (BLAW)
• New York attorney Aaron Schlossberg, whose xenophobic rant at a Midtown Manhattan deli’s employees and customers for speaking Spanish went viral on Twitter in May 2018, was publicly censured as a lawyer. (New York Law Journal)

Pro Bono

• Barnes & Thornburg said the firm’s lawyers and staff have donated more than $200,000 to its new foundation aimed at promoting racial justice in the firm’s local communities. (BTLaw.com)
• Lawyers from Paul, Weiss and civil rights organizations are suing the Proud Boys on behalf of Washington-based Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church that accuses members of the far-right group of vandalizing the historic Black church. (National Law Journal)

Laterals, Moves

• With companies expecting antitrust action to heat up under the incoming Biden administration, Kirkland & Ellis grabbed Goodwin & Proctor antitrust and competition co-chair Andrea Agathoklis Murino as a partner in Washington. Before her time at Goodwin, Murino was a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Previous to that she was an attorney adviser to former FTC Chairman and Commissioner William Kovacic, and she served as a counsel to two assistant attorneys general for antitrust at the Justice Department. (Kirkland.com) Murino told American Lawyer,“This is a great time to be an antitrust lawyer, because the doctrine is living, breathing and changing.” (American Lawyer)
• Meanwhile, Crowell & Moring added Allen & Overy antitrust lawyer Karel Bourgeois in Brussels, as companies anticipate big antitrust enforcement by the EU. (Crowell.com)
• The former head of Akin Gump’s Supreme Court and appellate practice Rex Heinke said the firm’s mandatory retirement policy spurred his move to a California boutique firm. (The Recorder)
• Davis Polk hired former Buckley LLP partner Daniel Stipano, a 31-year veteran of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, including as deputy chief counsel. The hire is an early sign the elite firm is making good on its plan to end its strict lockstep compensation policy. (BLAW)
• Cadwalader recruited fund finance partner M. Chadwick “Chad” Stackhouse, former Washington managing partner of Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, where he also led the fund finance team. (BLAW)
• Latham & Watkins got veteran M&A lawyer Hiroaki (Hiro) Takagi as a partner in Tokyo. According to his LinkedIn profile, Takagi is a former Justice Ministry attorney. He arrives most recently from Nishimura & Asahi where he’d been over 18 years, most recently as partner. (LW.com)
• Weil, Gotshal & Manges snagged Willkie Farr & Gallagher finance lawyer Ralf Defren as a partner in Frankfurt, where he will lead the firm’s Germany banking & finance practice. (Weil.com)
• Mayer Brown’s Houston office got EY’s energy and resources tax leader for the Americas, Greg Matlock, who joins as a tax transactions partner and will serve as a global co-leader of the tax-energy group. (MayerBrown.com)
• Duane Morris brought in state and local tax lawyer Lauren Ferrante as a partner in Chicago. She was previously a partner in McDermott Will & Emery’s SALT Practice. (DuaneMorris.com)
• Hughes Hubbard & Reed added M&A, private equity and capital markets lawyer Carlos Lobo as a partner in New York in its Latin America group. He was previously a partner in the Rio de Janeiro office of Brazilian firm Veirano Advogados. (HughesHubbard.com)
• McGuireWoods announced that former North Carolina Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, the first African-American woman to hold that role in the state, joined the firm as a partner in its litigation and appellate groups, based in Raleigh. (McGuireWoods.com)
• Blank Rome added corporate litigator Arash Beral in Los Angeles as a partner. He arrives from Freeman Freeman & Smiley. (BlankRome.com)

In-House

• The holding company of billionaire investor and philanthropist Ronald Perelman has a new legal team. (BLAW)
• Oil services conglomerate Halliburton Co. promoted its former general counsel, Van Beckwith, to executive vice president, secretary, and chief legal officer. (BLAW)

Promotions

• Perkins Coie said it promoted 26 lawyers (16 women) across 13 offices to partner for 2021 in its “most diverse partner class to date.” (PerkinsCoie.com)
• Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr elected seven attorneys (two women) to partner. (Saul.com)
• Lowenstein Sandler promoted seven attorneys (three women) to partner, plus 20 to counsel and one to senior counsel. (Lowenstein.com)

Legal Education

• States should overhaul bar exams to focus on problem solving rather than knowledge of niche practices, a bar examiner group said in a report. (BLAW)