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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

SUITS AND DEALS - Back in olden days (like 2007 or so) when firms didn't have to worry quite so much about landing new clients and losing existing ones, it wasn't uncommon for managing partners to talk about their litigation and corporate practices as if they were separate subsidiaries that just happened to be under the same parent company. Sure, every once in a while a transaction might lead to a lawsuit and some cross-selling might happen, but generally, the dealmakers made deals and the litigators litigated cases and everyone stayed in their own lanes. But, as Law.com's Patrick Smith reports, the elite firms have since figured out that litigation and deal work are actually two great tastes that taste great together. Not only does transactional work often beget litigation work within the same firm, but vice versa can be true as well, law firm consultants said. What's more, litigators and corporate lawyers are increasingly working side-by-side from the get-go. "From the beginning of the transactions, we have a litigator as part of the deal team," Lisa Haddad, co-chair of Goodwin's public M&A and corporate governance group, told Smith. "Clients are not used to seeing a litigator until there is a problem, and we show the importance of having one from the beginning to mitigate problems from the back end. It is just like having someone from tax as part of the team."

LET GEORGE DO IT - A year after distancing himself from former President Donald Trump's election fraud claims, McGuireWoods partner George Terwilliger is representing Mark Meadows in his dealings with the Jan. 6 House select committee. So what gives? Did he have a change of heart? Not necessarily, Law.com's Andrew Goudsward reports. Prominent Washington lawyers Goudsward spoke to drew a distinction between an attorney actively assisting in Trump's post-election efforts and representing a client who was involved. And after all, defense lawyers represent clients involved in misconduct as part of their job description, and in Washington, high-profile attorneys attach themselves to major political scandals. "Big-time lawyers represent big-time players," one veteran Washington lawyer said, adding that it's "an interesting enough assignment that most high-profile defense lawyers in town would be comfortable" taking on the representation.

DISCOVERY DISPUTE - Discovery and its board of directors were slapped with a shareholder lawsuit Monday in California Central District Court. The lawsuit, filed by Weisslaw LLP, seeks to enjoin a proposed transaction that would combine AT&T's WarnerMedia unit with Discovery to create a standalone entertainment company. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 2:21-cv-09799, Finger v. Discovery, Inc. et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

STEPPING IN LINE - Linklaters' vote to modify its lockstep system last week followed similar moves by Magic Circle rivals Allen & Overy—whose own changes have fueled U.S. growth—Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which has been active in the U.S. hiring market in 2021, and, notably, Cravath Swaine & Moore in a move already seen as highly influential, Law.com International's Hannah Walker reports. "The fact Cravath is no longer doing [pure lockstep] says a lot," one Linklaters partner said, praising his own firm's new pay arrangement. That partner apparently isn't alone in that sentiment. According to Walker, several Linklaters partners have welcomed the pay modifications, pointing in particular to the way they enable the firm to expand and compete in the U.S. in a manner that wasn't possible before, and to retain and attract lawyers in an extraordinarily competitive market.

WHAT YOU SAID

"The way I see it, my outside counsel is the face of the company in the legal proceedings. I expect them to conduct themselves not only ethically and in accordance with the rules of professionalism, but also in accordance with our company values."