Wake Up Call: Four Firms Help Eagle Football Buy French Team

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• At least four Big Law firms are steering a deal by a consortium led by Eagle Football Holdings Bidco Limited to buy Olympique Lyonnais Groupe SA, a Ligue 1 football team based in Lyon, France. DLA Piper is advising Eagle Football, which is founded by US digital entrepreneur John Textor and buying a controlling stake. Funds managed by private equity firm Ares Management, counseled by Proskauer Rose, and investors Iconic Sports, advised by Kirkland & Ellis, and Elmwood Partners, advised by Covington & Burling, joined the transaction as minority investors. (PR Newswire) (Nasdaq.com)
• The Financial Times reported the deal valued the Olympique Lyonnais Groupe’s equity and debt at around 884 million euros ($938 million). (Financial Times)
• Bankruptcy practices will get a lift in 2023 as high interest rates will make it tougher for distressed companies to find financing. (American Lawyer)
• After a record-breaking 2021, merger filings in the US and EU contracted in 2022, but filings are steadily climbing in Latin America, the Middle East, and Australia, new White & Case data show. (WhiteCase.com)
• Facial recognition technology got an attorney booted from a line waiting to get in to see a Rockettes show in New York. (CNBC)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Movie studio Lionsgate Entertainment Corp. general counsel Corii Berg resigned and the company’s associate GCs and legal compliance officer are taking over the role on an interim basis, according to a report citing a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. (Hollywood Reporter)
• Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healey announced that Environmental Protection Agency principal deputy general counsel Melissa Hoffer will join her government as the state’s first “climate chief,” a cabinet level position. (Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly)
• Winston & Strawn announced year-end associate bonuses that match the market rate while paying extra to big billers. (Above The Law)
• Polsinelli PC plans to move out of its downtown St. Louis office in early 2024 to Centene Plaza Building C in Clayton, Missouri. The firm’s managing partner attributed the move to needs of the office’s 96 attorneys and 181 full-time employees, in particular for on-site parking and food. (St. Louis Business Journal)
• A North Carolina attorney was killed trying to disarm a client who pulled a revolver during a meeting and began firing. (ABC News)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Proskauer Rose picked up White & Case private funds lawyer Ash Ilkhani as partner in its investment management practice. (Proskauer.com)
• Holland & Hart hired private client and tax attorney Nick Marshall as partner in Boise, Idaho. (HollandHart.com)
• Employer-side worklaw firm Fisher Phillips added employment law attorney Erik Laiho as partner in Portland, Oregon. He arrives from Davis Grimm Payne & Marra. (FisherPhillips.com)
• Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney added three litigators in San Diego, including former Weil Gotshal complex commercial litigation attorney Jennifer Oliver as counsel, and two associates. (BIPC.com)
• UK pension insurance specialist Rothesay hired London Linklaters M&A partner Lorna Tennent, co-head of the firm’s insurance practice, to become its general counsel in January 2023. (Financial News)
• Web Industries Inc., a manufacturing outsourcer in aerospace, medical, home care, and industrial markets, hired Bose Corporation assistant general counsel Amy Doherty as vice president, legal. She’s a former Goodwin Procter corporate attorney. (WebIndustries.com)
• Secure collaboration platform Mattermost announced that it hired former Latham & Watkins intellectual property and deals attorney Nirosha Ruwan as vice president of legal. (Yahoo.com)

Promotions

• New York-based boutique firm Braverman Greenspun PC promoted attorney Benjamin Fox Tracy to partner, effective Jan. 1, 2023. He advises on transactions and litigation involving cooperatives and condominiums. (BraverLaw.net)

Technology

• EsquireX, a legal talent platform based in Dover, Delaware, acquired Chicago-based rival Lawyer Exchange. (Staffing Industry Analysts)

Legal Education

• Berkeley Law received a $5 million gift to create a new criminal law faculty position. (Berkeley Law)