Apollo and Citi's deal last week to create a $25 billion private credit direct lending program in North America may spur further deals between traditional big banks and private credit entities—which may put many Big Law firms on notice about where business is shifting.

Steve Boyko, co-chair of Proskauer Rose's corporate department and former co-chair of private credit, said he expects bank joint ventures to increase and has personally fielded several inquiries recently for partnerships similar to the one Citi and Apollo formed. That should interest large law firms, many of whom play on one side or the other but don't have full capability in both institutional and private credit work.