BOOKIN’ IT - The saying “clients hire lawyers, not law firms” has quickly entered the pantheon of corporate clichés. But it also keeps getting truer, which means client books are more portable than ever. As Law.com’s Christine Simmons reports, the boom in M&A and life sciences business over the last two years, bigger books of business for individual partners, remote work and intense competition for top rainmakers are all factors allowing laterals to bring more business with them to new firms than in previous years. And the clients are, for the most part, cool with it. Indeed, some GCs say they prefer to move with a partner or team, rather than retrain outside counsel on their business. Ivan Fong, GC of medical device company Medtronic, for example, told Simmons that “when a lead outside lawyer changes law firms, we generally, taking into account individual circumstances, move the work to the new firm, especially if the new firm provides an equivalent or stronger level of overall capability and support,” Fong says. “Ultimately, we seek to maximize the value we get from the relevant team, rather than the particular law firm.”
UNDER THE INFLUENCE - Ever wonder why that 16-year-old in the neon hoodie that your kids watch on TikTok always seems to be eating Pringles while he’s dancing to Cardi B songs? There’s probably a lawyer behind that. As Law.com’s Charles Toutant reports, small but growing number of attorneys has begun offering services for social media influencers, cashing in on the fast growth in the number of big corporations paying to associate their products with a new kind of celebrity. “The industry is growing like crazy. It’s massive and it keeps growing very, very quickly,” said Jamie Lieberman, who represents influencers in her Hoboken, New Jersey, law practice. But social media has condensed 15 minutes of fame into about 15 seconds, so counseling these clients is an incredibly fast-paced job that is likely not for every lawyer. “A person who is popular today may not be popular six months from now. So there is tremendous urgency making deals happen,” said Timothy Shields, an attorney at Kelly Kronenberg in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who also represents influencers. “it’s a group of people that work in an instant environment so it’s a 24-7 type of world that they live in and they need their legal needs to match,” he said.
WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - UCB has agreed to acquire Zogenix, a biopharmaceutical company focused on rare diseases, for approximately $1.9 billion. The transaction, announced Jan. 19, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022. General counsel for UCB Bill Silbey and vice president of legal affairs Paul Thompson led the legal team. UCB, which is based in Brussels, was also advised by a Covington & Burling team that included partners J.D. Weinberg, Kyle Rabe and special counsel Gustavo Akkerman. Emeryville, California-based Zogenix was represented by a Latham & Watkins team led by partners Scott Shean, Cheston Larson and Matthew Bush. >>Read the press release on Law.com Radar. Read the press release on Law.com Radar and check out this week’s Who Got the Work?℠ column to find out which law firms and lawyers are being brought in to handle key cases and close major deals for their clients.
