Wake Up Call: Kirkland, Latham Steer $19 Billion Pipeline Deal

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

• Kirkland & Ellis is advising Oneok Inc. on its agreement to buy Magellan Midstream Partners LP in a $18.8 billion cash-and-stock transaction that would create one of the US’s largest oil and natural gas pipeline operators. Latham & Watkins said it advised Magellan with a corporate team led by Houston partners Ryan Maierson and Kevin Richardson. Latham called the deal the second-largest US public company merger so far in 2023. (Oneok.com)
• Davis Polk & Wardwell is advising Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Josh Harris and his partners on their acquisition of the National Football League Washington Commanders team. Cravath Swaine & Moore is representing the Commanders and its sellers, Dan Snyder and family. Hogan Lovells was previously reported as advising Harris. (BLAW)
• Virtual work that grew out of the pandemic has made some firm leaders comfortable with hiring large groups of partners across multiple jurisdictions. But those big hires come with due diligence concerns. (American Lawyer)
• A law professor and former dean of St. Mary’s University School of Law in Texas was accused of raping a female law student in his office. (Texas Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• The city of Seattle will pay $2.3 billion to whistleblowers who helped reveal the deletion of thousands of text messages of then-Mayor Jenny Durkan during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. (Seattle Times)
• A former Olympic coach who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a shooting of his student is suing to force three insurance companies to cover his legal fees. (Law.com)
• A legal defense fund for a 24-year-old former Marine charged with manslaughter in the death of homeless man on a New York City subway train has taken in close to $2 million, according to a report. (The Hill)
• WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon reportedly agreed to pay to cover $1.65 million in attorneys fees in an investor lawsuit he got out of after agreeing to pay $17.4 million. (Wrestling Inc.)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Cooley LLP in London snagged Covington & Burling life sciences partner Simon Amies as a partner. (Cooley)
• Kilpatrick Townsend named patent attorney and former Boeing Co. engineer Patrick Njeim managing partner of its Seattle office. (KilpatrickTownsend.com)
• Perkins Coie grabbed K&L Gates partner and renewables/power group leader Buck Endemann and energy tax leader Elizabeth Crouse as partners in the firm’s nationwide renewable energy practice. Endemann joins in San Francisco and Crouse joins in Portland, Oregon. (PerkinsCoie.com)
• Stoel Rives said employee benefits attorney Kiran Griffith, a former associate at the firm, returned as partner in Seattle, arriving from Perkins Coie. (Stoel Rives)
• UK private wealth law firm Boodle Hatfield hired trusts and estates litigator Nicola Bushby as a partner. She arrives from big England-based firm Irwin Mitchell. (BoodleHatfield.com)

Technology

• Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, said in a recent interview that he believes artificial intelligence will improve the legal profession. “I’m willing to almost bet 10 years from now, maybe there are more lawyers,” he said. (The Verge)

Legal Education

• The American Bar Association’s legal education and admissions body decided to pause plans to advance a proposal to make the Law School Admission Test test-optional after receiving letters from law school deans with concerns about the plan. (ABAJournal.com)