How Big and Smaller Firms See the Deal Outlook: The Morning Minute
The news and analysis you need to start your day.
October 03, 2023 at 06:00 AM
4 minute read
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
(AD)VANTAGE POINT - With Q4 underway, consultants and firm leaders are painting a picture of a mixed-deal environment that might depend, to some extent, on the size of the firm, Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports. Recent ALM survey data shows smaller firms to be more optimistic about the balance of 2023, while larger firms are more bullish about next year than their counterparts outside the Am Law 200. "What I'm hearing from firms is while they are cautiously optimistic, they're almost just looking into 2024 and planning for that, because a lot of their clients aren't doing any deals right now," said Heather McCullough, partner and co-founder of professional services counseling firm Society54. "While they may have aspirations to do something, they're just on hold for the foreseeable future."
WORK ON COMMISSION - Last week was a particularly aggressive one for the SEC in terms of enforcement actions against broker-dealers, corporate insiders and others. Overall in September, the SEC announced settlements or charges in more than three dozen matters, and about 20 of those were in the last week. And while that's bad for those broker-dealers, corporate insides (and others), it's working out quite swimmingly for Big Law and boutiques, who have, as Law.com's Abigail Adcox reports, seen a bonanza of work lately.
ON THE RADAR - R. Leland Evans and Scott A. Fenton of Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote and Michael G. Bongiorno and Tamar Kaplan-Marans of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have entered appearances for Norfolk Southern and its top executives in a pending securities class action. The suit, which focuses on a Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was filed Sept. 9 in Georgia Northern District Court by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd and Murray Murphy Moul & Basil. The suit accuses the defendants of filing false public reports about the safety and efficiency of Norfolk's operations. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg, is 1:23-cv-04175, Bucks County Employees Retirement System v. Norfolk Southern Corporation et al. Stay up on the latest state and federal litigation, as well as the latest corporate deals, with Law.com Radar.
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Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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