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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

POT PITFALLS – Regulatory uncertainty is a major factor in the challenging sphere of marijuana industry mergers, Dan Clark reports. That's according to general counsel at companies in the cannabis space. More than a few mergers of late have been significantly altered or abandoned altogether amidst a patchwork of state laws and a federal ban. The constantly changing market also makes deals tough because company values change quickly yet mergers take a long time to come together in part because they must receive Justice Department approval. Not only that, but the pool of investors in the marijuana market is relatively small.

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S – Big Law has kept busy on a trio of deals in the runup to Thanksgiving, writes Patrick Smith. On the luxury goods front, Skadden represented LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton in its $16 billion acquisition of iconic jeweler Tiffany &Co., which is being repped by Sullivan & Cromwell. Meanwhile Davis Polk represented brokerage firm Charles Schwab as it acquired competitor TD Ameritrade for $26 billion in an all stock transaction. Wachtell handled the deal for TD Ameritrade. Finally, Sullivan & Cromwell was back at it, advising Swiss pharmaceutical heavyweight Norvartis in its $9.7 billion acquisition of biotech firm The Medicines Co., which was represented by Paul Weiss.

LUNCHING ON MCDONALD'S – Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and two other boutique plaintiff firms are poised to gobble up more than $10 million in legal fees under a proposed settlement in a five-year-old class action brought by McDonald's employees in California who claimed they were underpaid, Nate Robsen reports. The settlement, should it be approved, would total $26 million. Among the worker's claims are that the fast food giant failed to pay regular and overtime wages, failed to pay their full wages when they left the company, and failed to provide time for meals and breaks. A settlement hearing is scheduled for Dec. 3.

EDITOR'S PICKS

Meet the 2020 Democrats' Top Big Law Backers

Attorney for Jeffrey Epstein Guards Wary of Their Clients Being Singled Out for System Failure

A 'Very, Very Good Year' for Law Firms? Maybe So, but Not for Everyone

Why 4 Local Governments Banned Facial Recognition Tech

K&L Gates Defections Follow Years of Financial Declines

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

G'DAY BOSS – Australia's new financial dispute resolution agency has hired its first top lawyer, Phillip Bantz reports. Anna Campbell, a former lawyer and manager for the Sydney-based Australian Securities Exchange, will become general counsel of the year-old Australian Financial Complaints Authority. That entity formed in the wake of the dissolution of three separate external dispute resolution entities, and has since received more than 73,000 complaints from Australians in disputes with banks and other financial firms and has awarded $185 million in compensation.

WHAT YOU SAID

"I remember answering emails at the top of a mountain in Yellowstone."