Cross-Border and Big Law Mergers May Heat Up in 2024: The Morning Minute
The news and analysis you need to start your day.
January 05, 2024 at 06:00 AM
4 minute read
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
CONSOLIDATION ACROSS NATIONS - Total law firm mergers increased only slightly in 2023. But cross-border and large-firm mergers, typically more complex than smaller, domestic tie-ups, surged, according to a recent report. Fairfax Associates tallied 48 total law firm mergers in 2023, a "modest" increase from 44 in 2022, according to a report this week. But the number of cross-border combos, which may have gotten riskier during the pandemic and as geopolitical tensions increased the last couple years, went up from two to four. And, as Law.com's Andrew Maloney reports, with some experts saying merger interest remains at an "all-time high," combinations may have nowhere to go but up in 2024.
COMBO GUARDS - While law firms remain hungry to merge, other industries eyeing combinations should be careful not to bite off more than they can chew. As Law.com's Maydeen Merino reports, antitrust experts expect the FTC's aggressive agenda targeting big tech and other corporate mergers that could harm competition or the labor market is expected to continue into the new year. A priority for the FTC and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division will be to start applying their new merger guidelines in court because the guidelines' impact will be determined by how readily judges accept them, said former FTC Chair William Kovacic. "A big task ahead is to start bringing cases and apply them, to litigate them and to gain judicial opinions that say this is a good framework for analysis," Kovacic said. "But I expect that they will be looking for opportunities to apply all of the elements of the guidelines in merger cases—to some extent, they've already been doing that."
ON THE RADAR - Daniel T. Fenske and Britt M. Miller of Mayer Brown and Julian R. Ellis Jr. and Richard B. Benenson of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck have entered appearances for the Big Ten Conference in a pending antitrust class action related to the NCAA's bylaw that prohibits student-athletes from receiving "pay in any form" for the labor that they provide. The case, filed Nov. 20 in Colorado District Court by Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray and Korein Tillery LLC, contends that the defendants 'operate as a cartel that fixes wages' by prohibiting athletes from obtaining compensation for their participation in competitive games. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney, is 1:23-cv-03076, Fontenot v. National Collegiate Athletic Association 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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