Wake Up Call: LegalZoom, Intapp File for IPOs After Delays

In today’s column, Simpson Thacher and Wachtell are advising on three private equity giants’ $30 billion-plus deal to buy a majority stake in medical supplies company Medline; big U.K. firms have promoted a record number of women to partner this year; a Dechert associate won on Jeopardy! and went viral for her expressions.

• Leading off, two California-based legal tech firms filed for initial public offerings last week after delays to earlier IPO plans. Glendale-based LegalZoom.com, Inc., a legal service used by small business, re-filed its IPO close to a decade after market conditions delayed its first effort, a report says. Palo Alto-based Intapp, a firm management platform for lawyers and the financial services sector, also filed to go public, in its case after a delay because of the pandemic. (Artificial Lawyer)
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is advising private equity giants Blackstone Group Inc, Carlyle Group Inc. and Hellman & Friedman LLC on their plan to buy a controlling stake in Medline Industries Inc., the biggest privately held U.S. manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, for over $30 billion. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is advising Medline, according to the company’s statement. GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is also investing as part of the partnership. (Bloomberg News via BLAW)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Top 30 U.K. firms have promoted a record 235 women to partner in 2021, with women accounting for a record 44% of the firm’s partner promotions overall for the year so far, a report says. (Law.com International)
• Dechert associate Julia Markham-Cameron has gone viral for her facial expressions while winning on TV game show Jeopardy! (Brooklyn Eagle)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Arnold & Porter said Andre Geverola, former criminal litigation director in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, is joining the firm’s antitrust/competition practice group as a partner based in Chicago and Washington; former Office of the Comptroller of the Currency senior attorney Lisa Weingarten Richards joined financial services firm Murphy & McGonigle as a partner in Washington; Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton hired former Greenberg Traurig arbitration shareholder Thomas G. Allen in Washington as a partner on its construction and infrastructure team and as global lead for international disputes; Steptoe & Johnson UK LLP grabbed Fried Frank commercial litigator Leigh Mallon as a partner in London. (Steptoe.com)
• Goodwin Procter picked up two executive compensation and employee benefits partners in California. Former DLA Piper partner Cisco Palao-Ricketts, who was co-chair of that firm’s executive compensation and benefits practice, joined Goodwin in Silicon Valley; longtime Morgan, Lewis & Bockius executive compensation of counsel Heather Brookfield came on in San Francisco. Goodwin’s San Francisco office also got Cooley life sciences capital markets lawyer Marianne Sarrazin as a partner; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips got veteran trial partner Naeun Rim, a former federal public defender, as a litigation partner in Los Angeles; Buchalter added veteran litigator John Clough as a shareholder in Los Angeles. (Buchalter)
• In Texas, Blank Rome brought in Cecilia Ibarra-van Oostenrijk in Houston as Mexican counsel in its corporate, M&A, and securities group. She arrives from McKool Smith where she was senior counsel and, previously, was North America compliance officer and senior counsel for Mexico operations for French energy services multinational TechnipFMC; DLA Piper hired two patent litigators as partners in its intellectual property and technology practice: Jennifer Nall arrived from Baker Botts in Austin, Tx., while Helena Kiepura came from Kirkland & Ellis in Washington. (DLA Piper)
• Holland & Knight got innovation law and policy attorney Nick Leibham as a partner, working out of Washington and Irvine, Calif. Leibham arrives from K&L Gates where he was co-head of the emerging technologies and innovation practice; technology-focused IP litigator Nitin Gambhir moved from Polsinelli to Hogan Lovells as a partner, working out of his new firm’s San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices; Norton Rose Fulbright hired legal tech consultant George Steven from document automation service DocGovern, where he was chief technology officer. (NortonRoseFulbright.com)

Technology

• Houston-based legal-services and records-retrieval specialist Lexitas, which had record profits in 2020, has acquired 14 companies since 2019. (Houston Chronicle)

Legal Education

• Harvard Law School’s Yih-Hsien Shen, associate director of J.D. advising, talked to Law.com recently about how law firms are approaching this year’s summer associate programs as the pandemic appears to wind down. (Law.com)