SCOTUS hears Alabama voting rights case, Law firms fight for M&A work, Kirkland partner promotions, Kim Kardashian crypto lawsuit
Reuters Legal
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?? Good morning from the Legal File!?The U.S. Supreme Court began hearing a case in which Alabama is defending a Republican-drawn electoral map faulted by judges for diluting the clout of Black voters. The cooling of the global mergers and acquisitions market has resulted in a slowdown in M&A advisory work. Law firm Kirkland & Ellis has promoted a record number of lawyers to its partnership for the fifth year in a row and Kim Kardashian’s promotion of cryptocurrency tokens on Instagram lands her in legal trouble. Let’s get into it:
On its second day of the new term, the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing two consolidated cases brought by Black voters challenging the legality of the Republican-drawn electoral map for the state of Alabama. In February, the top court let Alabama use the map for the Nov. 8 U.S. congressional elections in which Republicans are trying to regain control of Congress after a lower court found it likely discriminates against Black voters.
?The dispute gives the court a chance to roll back further protections contained in the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
The lower court found that Alabama's map diminished the influence of Black voters by concentrating their voting power into a single House district even though the state's population is 27% Black, while distributing the rest of the Black population in other districts at levels too small to form a majority.
Tuesday will mark liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's second day of hearing arguments as a member of the court.
?More from the Supreme Court ??
The combined value of global announced M&A deals through the first nine months of 2022 reached $2.81 trillion, down from more than $4.2 trillion for the same period last year, with an accompanying slowdown in the M&A advisory work that helps power large law firms.
New York-founded Sullivan & Cromwell once again advised on the largest share of that total, working on $373 billion worth of announced deals in the first three quarters of 2022, according to Refinitiv. That is down about 40% from this time last year when the firm had handled more than $619 billion in deals.
In all, 20 of the top 25 M&A legal advisors ranked by Refinitiv saw year-over-year declines. Some firms — including Allen & Overy; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges — saw their combined deal values drop 50% or more, according to the Refinitiv data.
Eric Swedenburg, head of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett's M&A practice, said in an email he would "not be surprised if M&A remains subdued for the remainder of the year, but deals with a strong strategic rationale will continue to move forward.”
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Chicago-founded Kirkland & Ellis on Monday said it elevated 193 lawyers to partner, up from 151 the previous year — a 28% increase.
Kirkland, which has promoted a record number of lawyers to its partnership for the fifth year in a row, is among the first major corporate law firms to announce its new partner class this year at a time when many firms are experiencing marked declines in client demand compared to last year.
This year marks the first in which Kirkland considered associates for partner nine years after graduating law school, instead of the previous 10-year timeline.
Industry experts say the move was meant to help the firm retain associates.
Many firms boosted their number of new partners at the end of 2021, when the legal industry was experiencing surging demand and firms were embroiled in a war for legal talent. Since then the global M&A market has cooled significantly, and other practices such as bankruptcy, intellectual property and tax have also seen slumping demand.
More in legal industry news:
Reality television star and influencer Kim Kardashian has promoted everything from appetite-suppressing lollipops to melon-flavored liqueur to toilet paper, but it was her foray into the murky world of cryptocurrencies that got her into hot water.
Kardashian after failing to disclose that she was paid $250,000 by crypto company EthereumMax to publish an Instagram post about its EMAX tokens agreed to settle charges of unlawfully touting a crypto security and to pay $1.26 million in penalties and fees, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday.
The SEC in November 2017 warned celebrities looking to cash in on the emerging digital asset space that U.S. rules require they disclose when they are being paid to endorse crypto tokens, and ever since has pursued a handful of other celebrities, including Steven Seagal, DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather Jr. for breaking that rule.
Kardashian and Mayweather Jr. are also facing another lawsuit alleging the celebrities misled investors in their promotion of the cryptocurrency token EMAX.
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