Wake Up Call: Seven Firms Steer $4.8B Spanish Media Merger

In today’s column, Baker McKenzie announced special associate bonuses that match the Davis Polk scale and raises it for big billers; Sheppard Mullin elected a new chair, its first based outside of California; Orrick launched a legal tech business, spun off from an in-house unit.

• Leading off, Wachtell and a Mexican law firm are advising Grupo Televisa SAB, Mexico’s largest broadcaster, on its agreement to sell its content and media assets to Univision Holdings Inc., the biggest U.S. provider of Spanish-language TV and radio content. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman is serving as regulatory counsel to Televisa on the deal, which is valued at $4.8 billion and would create the world’s largest Spanish-language media, according to a statement.
• Advising Univision are Paul, Weiss, Sidley Austin, and Covington & Burling. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advised the SoftBank Latin America Fund, which plans to invest $1 billion in the deal, along with Google and the Raine Group, which got advice from Pillsbury. (Bloomberg News)
• Baker McKenzie, the firm that helped set the standard for 2020 year-end associate bonuses, is now matching the Davis Polk scale for 2021 special bonuses, which run up $64,000 depending on year of seniority for associates billing at least 2,000 hours for the year. Associates billing at least 2,300 hours can get up to $16,000 more than the standard, Above the Law reports. The money comes in two chunks, the second, and biggest, in January 2022. (Above the Law)
• Big Law firms are hoping all that bonus cash will help them hang on to associates, many of which have been complaining about the flood of work they’ve gotten during the pandemic. In this article, “burned-out associates” from five Big Law firms talked about feeling trapped in their schedules. (Business Insider)
• Law.com takes a comprehensive look at how remote work has changed law firm life, and ponders which changes could be here to stay. (Law.com)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Sheppard Mullin said its partners elected Washington-based corporate partner Lucantonio Salvi as the firm’s new chair, effective Oct. 12. He’ll be the firm’s fifth full-time chair and the first located outside of California. Salvi takes over from Guy Halgren, who’s stepping down after 20 years in the role and 35 years at the firm; Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner named M&A partner Ryan Davis, who is co-head of its sports-entertainment group, to be its new office managing partner for St. Louis starting May 1. He succeeds Robert Newmark, who has led the office since 2011 and will continue to focus on his own business and transactional practice. (BCLPlaw.com)
• Fox News Networks, LLC hired two prominent Texas defense attorneys to defend it against a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by electronic voting tech company Dominion, according to reports citing a court filing. The lawyers are longtime Jackson Walker partner Charles “Chip” Babcock and former Texas solicitor general Scott Keller, who left Baker Botts in January and is now at Lehotsky Keller LLP. (Law & Crime) (The Hill)
• The International Legal Finance Association, a trade association created last year to unify the growing industry’s voice to counter regulation efforts against it, has hired its first lobbyists. (Politico)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Companies concerned about toughening data protection enforcement around the world and an increase in cyber attacks are among factors driving an acceleration in data privacy associate moves. Also, Debevoise & Plimpton said former New York internet and technology prosecutor Johanna Skrzypczyk has returned to the firm as counsel in data strategy and security practice; Davis Wright Tremaine brought on cybersecurity veteran Michael T. Borgia as a partner in Washington to lead the information security group in the firm’s technology + communications + privacy & security practice. Borgia joins from cybersecurity and digital risk consulting firm Stroz Friedberg, a part of Aon’s Cyber Solutions division, where he was a vice president. (DWT.com)
• Ropes & Gray hired private equity fund formation lawyer Brian Hunkele as a partner in its asset management practice in New York. He joins from Fried, Frank where he was also a partner; Dykema hired a former California federal criminal appeals section chief, Becky S. James, as a member in its corporate investigations and enforcement practice in Austin, Tx. James, recently L.A. managing partner at Greenberg Gross, will also work from Dykema’s Los Angeles office; Management-side worklaw firm Littler said a former senior legal counsel in the Ohio Health Department, Lisa M. Kathumbi, returned to Littler as a shareholder in Columbus, from Bricker & Eckler. (Littler.com)

Technology

• Orrick, Herrington Sutcliffe started a legal tech company, Joinder, spun out from its in-house incubator. (Artificial Lawyer)