Wake Up Call: Four Firms Steer $12.4 Billion Self-Storage Deal

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

• Latham & Watkins is advising Extra Space Storage Inc. on its agreement to buy fellow real estate trust Life Storage Inc. in an all-stock deal aimed at creating a self storage market giant worth about $47 billion. Bloomberg News reported the deal as worth $12.4 billion. Hogan Lovells and Quinn Emanuel are counseling Life Storage, according to a statement. (ExtraSpace.com)
• Morrison & Foerster said via email it is advising Citigroup Global Markets Inc., lead financial adviser to Extra Space, with a team led by Washington corporate partner David Slotkin and New York corporate associate Tyler Miller. Latham said its deal team for Extra Space was led by San Diego corporate partners Craig Garner and Kevin Reyes. (Lw.com)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• The first quarter of 2023 started with two more law firm mergers than in the same period in 2022, and legal tie-ups look on track to continue on a faster pace for the rest of the year. (FairfaxAssociates.com)
• Rudy Giuliani argues that former President Donald Trump’s alleged hush money payments to a porn star were a “business expense.” (The Hill)
• Facing shrinking demand for their corporate practices, some Big Law firms have returned their focus to more modest deals in the middle-market. (American Lawyer)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Dentons brought back restructuring attorney Tom Labuda as partner in Chicago in its restructuring, insolvency, and bankruptcy practice. He was at Sidley Austin a decade after spending close to 18 years at Dentons legacy firms. (Dentons)
• Morrison & Foerster grabbed Kirkland & Ellis private equity and M&A partner Rongjing Zhao as a partner in its Beijing and Shanghai offices in China. (MoFo.com)
• Perkins Coie said Knobbe Martens intellectual property partner Thomas Yee is joining the firm in New York as a partner in its patent prosecution and portfolio counseling practice. (PerkinsCoie.com)
• Fox Rothschild named five new office managing partners, litigation partner Eileen Oakes Muskett in Atlantic City, New Jersey; employment and commercial litigator Colin D. Dougherty in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania; labor and employment litigator Nikki H. Howell in Kansas City, Missouri; entertainment and sports law partner and practice chair Darrell D. Miller in Los Angeles; and public companies partner and practice co-chair Vincent A. Vietti in Princeton, New Jersey. (FoxRothschild.com)
• Management-side worklaw firm Littler Mendelson appointed employment litigation shareholder Lisa Kathumbi office managing shareholder of its Columbus, Ohio, and Lexington, Kentucky, offices. She succeeds Kevin Griffith, who will continue as shareholder and co-chair of the firm’s whistleblowing, compliance, and investigations practice group. Littler also hired Valerie Jackson in Boston as of counsel. She arrives from Jackson Lewis P.C. (Littler.com)
• DLA Piper added employment litigation attorney Troy Valdez as partner in San Francisco. He arrives from Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass. (DLAPiper.com)
• Becton, Dickinson and Company, a medical technology company, promoted its acting general counsel Michelle Quinn, who was also chief ethics and compliance officer, to permanent GC and executive vice president. Quinn, a former Morgan Lewis litigator, is a veteran in-house at several pharmaceutical companies. (News.BD.com)
• Legal and business services provider Integreon named e-discovery specialist Philip Goodin executive vice president, business unit leader, litigation services. He’s a former SVP of global litigation services at UnitedLex and was earlier at Spencer Fane as innovations and e-discovery counsel. (Integreon.com)

Promotions

• McCarter & English promoted seven lawyers to partner in four of the firm’s offices. (McCarter.com)

Technology

• Most corporate legal departments around the world are on hybrid work schedules, according to a report. (Corporate Counsel)