Page 2 - Law Firm Management

S2 | MONDAY, MAY 9, 2016 | Law Firm Management | NYLJ.COM

INSIDE
Capital Market, Corporate Practices

Dip in Early 2016

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Davis
PREDICTION
BY CHRISTINE SIMMONS
Polk & Wardwell, Sullivan & Cromwell and
In which practice area do you Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton saw the
expect to see the most revenue
THE FIRST quarter of 2016 delivered a shock value of their deals drop in the irst quar-
growth in 2016?
to irms focused on corporate and capital ter, compared with the same period in 2015,
markets who saw a freeze in deals. Look- according to data from Mergermarket.
40 ing ahead, several law irm leaders say the However, the value of mid market M&A
uncertainty prompted by global events and deals—those between $10 million and $250 mil-
35 36%
the presidential election could impact legal lion—saw less of a decrease, said Mergermarket,

30 spend for the rest of the year.
making it a more stable practice this year.
The dive in corporate business was unex- James Colihan, managing partner of Baker
25 pected for law irms, especially after a record & McKenzie’s New York ofice, said the year
year for mergers and acquisitions in 2015. is off to a good start in cross-border mid-
20 21%
In fact, in a managing partner survey last market transactions at his irm, more so than
18%
September by the American Lawyer, corpo- large-cap deals.
15 16%
rate was cited most often as the practice Law irm leaders insist the recent changes
S4 Propping up an Associate expected to have the highest revenue growth in the corporate practice won’t affect their
10
Who Has Dropped the Ball in 2016.
partner or associate hiring.

5 5%
BY MARC S. FRIEDMAN,
“The choppiness in the inancial markets “For us to try to respond in a hiring
4%
NATALIE LOEB
is probably the biggest disappointment and perspective to short term ups and downs
0
AND GORDON LOEB
it has led to the irm being less utilized in wouldn’t be effective or practical,” said n
e
/ P e
r
the inance practice” during the irst quar- Kaplan, of Davis Polk.
ioattcyng
Iathe
ter, said Michael Solow, managing partner of gatporupuriEstOt
S6 The Full-Service Client Kaye Scholer.
Bankruptcy
LitiCornkructeal
Partnership Model:
“Our clients continue to call us, clients BastrR
A Primer for Law Firms want to bring deals to the market, but the A surprising high point this year are bank- Re
BY MICHAEL R. CAPLAN
market is not open,” Solow said. “We have a ruptcy and restructuring practices, at least

signiicant pent-up demand to deals that are partly due to sustained low oil prices and
S8 You Can Do It All waiting to close.”
faltering energy companies.
BY EDWARD HOURIHAN
But law irm leaders have been surprised EARLY 2016 OBSERVATION:
Total Chapter 11 business ilings increased
by other developments in 2016, namely the “There’s more uncertainty in 9 percent to 1,419 during the first three
strength of litigation and restructuring and months of 2016, according to data provided
S10 Relationship Between bankruptcy, the latter of which had been slug- the corporate marketplace than by Epiq Systems, Inc.
Leadership and Management gish for years.
“After a long resting period for our bank-
In Law Firms
Overall, six law irm leaders, in mid-April there was six months ago
ruptcy practice, our bankruptcy partners are
and I didn’t see that coming.”
BY JOEL A. ROSE
interviews with the New York Law Journal, very, very busy” for energy industry clients,
pointed to 2016 as a transitional year, with Solow said. “The velocity of cases and the
pivoting practice area strengths and a wait- amount of work that is now going on is dra-
and-see approach on some business deals offering deals. “We will wait and see what matically different.”
while global events play out.
happens,” he said.
Mitchell, a restructuring attorney, said
“There’s more uncertainty in the corpo- Michael Kaplan, co-head of Davis Polk & she’s seen a hike in her business, noting
rate marketplace than there was six months Wardwell’s capital markets group, said the banks are placing more limits on borrowing
Editor-In-Chief ago and I didn’t see that coming,” said Nancy year started slowly with IPOs, but “I don’t by companies in certain sectors in the last
Kris Fischer, Mitchell, co-managing shareholder of the New think that’s a surprise because [2015] ended six months than they were in 2015. “There’s
Angela Turturro, Sections Editor
Agnieszka Czuj, Designer
York ofice of Greenberg Traurig, who repre- slowly. The start of the year was really con- a lot more credit pressure on middle market
sents companies seeking inancing. “It has sistent with that trend.”
companies than I have seen,” she said.
been bumpier for our clients. It deinitely is “It’s a cyclical market. We expect there are Colihan said Baker & McKenzie has seen S
S
a tougher credit market.”
booms and busts and we prepare accord- an uptick in restructuring work, especially
© 2016 ALM MEDIA PROPERTIES, LLC.
Law irm leaders pointed to stock market ingly,” Kaplan said, noting the IPO market in energy, while Cohen said Clifford Chance
THE NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL ® luctuations; the U.S. presidential election; the has improved in recent weeks.
this year is handling more work involving
IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK possible exit of the U.K. from the European Solow, at Kaye Scholer, said debt deals restructuring and bankruptcies of domestic
OF ALM MEDIA PROPERTIES, LLC.
Union, also known as Brexit; and oil prices aren’t closing because sellers of debt can’t and Latin American companies.
as events that could delay corporate deals.
ind enough buyers in the market.
Firm leaders point to healthy litigation

Deals involving Europe may be delayed “We certainly had a hope there would be a practices too.
while business leaders “wait to see what hap- steadier marketplace that would close more Bodian said Mintz Levin earlier this year
READER’S SERVICES
pens” on Brexit, said Evan Cohen, Clifford transactions in the inancing practice. That picked up new securities litigation matters
For subscriptions and to purchase back issues, Chance’s regional managing partner for the hasn’t happened,” he said. “If this happens and in April was added to AIG’s outside coun-
call 1-877-256-2472.
Americas.
all year, you’ll see a lot of sad faces in irms sel panel.
Aside from uncertainty due to global like ours.”
“I deinitely anticipate our litigation prac-
For questions regarding reprints and permissions, call events, law irms already saw a slowdown In addition to corporate inance, high-cap tice will be stronger in 2016 than 2015,” said
347-227-3382, e-mail reprintscustomerservice@alm. in capital markets in the irst quarter and M&A practices slowed, a stark contrast from Bodian, whose irm already had record proits
com, or visit almreprints.com.
To track calendar and motion information for deals were put on hold.
last year.
and revenue last year.
individual cases, call MA 3000 at 212-457-4988.
Robert Bodian, managing partner of Mintz, According to data from Mergermarket, the Despite the level of uncertainty in the cor-
Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, said average deal size for global transactions in porate market, Solow said he is comforted by
Send decisions of interest to [email protected]
“there were some deals that didn’t close in the the irst quarter reached $367 million, down Kaye Scholer’s litigation business, including
To access decisions and articles published irst quarter that may have closed in a more from the highest average deal size for any in securities, commercial, product liability
in the Law Journal, visit nylj.com.
robust market,” in particular, initial public
quarter in 2015.
and patent litigation.