Why More Litigators and Dealmakers Are Teaming Up: The Morning Minute

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.