Wake Up Call: Weil, Fox Rothschild Lead MGM’s Online Gaming Bid

In today’s column, O’Melveny & Myers launched a Houston office with three corporate deal partners poached from Willkie, Farr & Gallagher; Virginia’s attorney general named a new University of Virginia top lawyer to replace the one he fired in January; NYU Law will have its first Black dean starting June 1.

• Leading off, Las Vegas-headquartered MGM Resorts International has Weil, Gotshal & Manges as its legal counsel and Fox Rothschild as gaming counsel for its approximately $607 million offer to buy Sweden-based global online gaming company LeoVegas AB, according to a Monday press release. LeoVegas, which has licenses mainly in the Nordics and rest of Europe, had 393 million euros ($414 million) in revenue in the 12 months ended March 31. The company, which is headquartered in Stockholm and has offices in Malta, United Kingdom and Milan, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment (PR Newswire)
• After the Black In-House Counsel Group recently released results of its compensation survey, some of its members decided to quit their jobs and look for new ones. The survey by the 300-member group had found some “eye-opening” disparities in pay. (Corporate Counsel)
• Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares named University of Kentucky deputy general counsel Cliff Iler as the University of Virginia’s new top lawyer, as well as Virginia senior assistant attorney general. Miyares, a Republican, in one of his first moves after taking office in January fired the university’s previous counsel Tim Heaphy, a Democrat. (WaPo)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• O’Melveny & Myers said it launched a Houston office, its third in Texas, with three corporate deal partners poached from Willkie, Farr & Gallagher: Angela Olivarez, Steven Torello, and Ryan Cicero; Baker Botts said it’s advising Houston-based Waste Management, Inc. on a $1 billion senior notes offering. (BakerBotts.com)
• A Tennessee family law attorney’s bid to win election as a county judge is in question after her criminal conviction got her indefinitely suspended from practicing law in the state. (Law.com)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Winston & Strawn snagged Willkie Farr & Gallagher corporate attorney Thomas Millar as a partner in Washington with a special focus on energy and infrastructure industry transactions; FisherBroyles recruited longtime corporate and M&A attorney Greg Johnson as a partner in Dallas. He joins after 27-plus years at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; FisherBroyles said Selig Law Firm commercial real estate attorney Scott Weisenberg joined as a partner in Chicago. He’s a former general counsel for a large real estate developer; Squire Patton Boggs said it appointed corporate partner Bart Vanderstraete as Brussels office managing partner. It named London and Brussels-based partner Diarmuid Ryan as head of its global competition-antitrust practice; Quarles & Brady hired commercial real estate and finance attorney Jennifer Powers in Tampa as partner. (Quarles.com)
• Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Miami-based litigation partner Angela de Cespedes announced she was appointed vice-chair of the ABA Forum on the entertainment and sports’ industries’ litigation division; Lathrop GPM’s Boston office brought in patent attorney Ricardo Ochoa as counsel, plus a staff member as patent specialist. (LathropGPM.com)
• Walt Disney’s general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, is taking over the government relations and global public policy roles of the company’s recently departed corporate affairs chief, Geoff Morrell, according to a report. (EconoTimes)

Legal Education

• New York University School of Law professor Troy McKenzie will become the school’s dean on June 1. He will take over from Trevor Morrison, who is stepping down after nine years in the role. McKenzie, who graduated from NYU Law in 2000, will be the school’s first Black dean, this report says. (New York Law Journal)