🧩 Private equity closes a $700M law firm deal
PLUS: C.H. Robinson's $604M verdict sticks, SoftBank eyes Allied Universal, Cooley joins the Milbank scale...
Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Plain English coverage of deals, litigation and legal trends trusted by lawyers at Cravath, Latham, Skadden, Gunderson and elsewhere.
Welcome to Lookzy. In today's Lookzy:
- Private equity's biggest US law firm bet closes
- A $604M trucking verdict survives, plus interest
- SoftBank kicks the tires on Allied Universal
- The press secretary lasted half a Scaramucci
PE BUYS INTO A LAW FIRM
Charlesbank Capital Partners has closed its investment in Wood Smith Henning & Berman, the LA-based insurance defense firm, in a deal the FT says values it at about $700 million. That makes it one of the biggest outside-capital bets on a US law firm so far.
How it gets past the rule that non-lawyers can't own law firms: a management services organization. The lawyers keep owning the legal practice, and Charlesbank takes a majority of a separate company that owns the brand, leases, tech, billing and HR. The firm then pays that company service fees.
WSHB has more than 550 lawyers in 43 offices and brought in $244 million of revenue last year. Co-founder Daniel Berman will run the services company, and the money is earmarked for acquisitions, AI and expansion into Latin America. Rivals Freeman Mathis & Gary and Tyson & Mendes have reportedly hired bankers to run their own processes, so this probably won't be the last one.
THE VERDICT
Arguing today's litigation news
Interest accrues. A Dallas County judge upheld the $604 million jury verdict against C.H. Robinson over a 2021 crash that killed three people, plus about $107 million in pre-judgment interest. The jury found the truck's driver was under the broker's control, a finding that has the freight industry nervous. Arnold & Itkin repped the plaintiffs; C.H. Robinson will appeal.
Witness? What witness. Judge Amir Ali (D.D.C.) rejected DOJ's bid to disqualify Susman Godfrey from representing the ABA in its suit over Trump's law-firm executive orders. DOJ argued Susman lawyers would be necessary witnesses, since Susman was itself targeted by an order, but conceded it couldn't name a single one.
The audit continues. Jackson Walker disclosed 11 more bankruptcy cases involving ex-judge David Jones, whose secret romance with former partner Elizabeth Freeman has kept the firm in fee litigation for nearly three years. The filings answer an order from Judge Eduardo Rodriguez (Bankr. S.D. Tex.) and include seven Chapter 11 cases that had largely escaped scrutiny.
Still alive. The Second Circuit denied Kenvue's petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc, leaving in place its July ruling that revived about 500 suits claiming prenatal Tylenol use causes autism or ADHD. The panel had found Judge Denise Cote went too far in excluding three of the plaintiffs' experts. Next stop could be the Supreme Court.
THE DEAL
Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news
Robocops. SoftBank is in early talks to buy Allied Universal, the largest US security services company, at an equity value of up to $18 billion, according to Bloomberg and the WSJ. Allied has about $12 billion of debt, so the total could approach $30 billion. Masayoshi Son reportedly wants to swap some guards for robots eventually.
Trash talk. EQT agreed to buy Cleanaway, Australia's biggest waste company, for A$3.095 a share in cash, an enterprise value of about A$9.3 billion ($6.5 billion). Allens is repping EQT and Ashurst Perkins Coie is repping Cleanaway.
Deal unwound. Oaktree's agreement to buy a controlling stake in Atlantic Coast Life Insurance, Advantage Capital's South Carolina insurer, has collapsed after regulators raised alarms about its exposure to defunct investment firm 777 Partners. The sides are still talking about an alternative deal.
BOILERPLATE
Lateral Moves:
- Sidley hired structured finance partner Glenn Kunkes and three associates from Mayer Brown in Charlotte.
- Weil hired antitrust partner Yuni Yan Sobel from Paul Weiss.
- Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer hired finance and restructuring partner Rachel Jones from Squire Patton Boggs.
Industry News:
- Cooley will move associates to the Milbank scale ($235K for first-years) on January 1, 2027, and is paying special bonuses for 2026.
- Half a Scaramucci. Last week's bar story has an ending: Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after five days, following a rough first briefing and questions about calling herself a lawyer. By CNBC's math, that's one-half of one Scaramucci.
- Trump's PAC paid Sullivan & Cromwell $1.5 million in the third quarter ($3.8 million so far this year, with $761K still owed) and paid DLA Piper $667,000, FEC filings show.
Alright, back to billing. That's all, folks!
