Davis Polk & Wardwell announced a new program offering 1L students a $25,000 stipend for completing qualified pro bono or community-focused internships in summer 2026, with the payout delivered if they join the firm as 2L summer associates in 2027.

Bloomberg Law data shows that top firms like Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Weiss, Davis Polk, and Paul Hastings are rapidly expanding their litigation teams—each growing headcount by at least 22% since early last year—as demand for high-stakes disputes continues to rise.

Latham & Watkins is capitalizing on Germany’s post-austerity infrastructure boom, seeing a sharp rise in high-value mandates as the country injects €1 trillion into infrastructure and defense under Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Latham & Watkins is capitalizing on Germany’s post-austerity infrastructure boom, seeing a sharp rise in high-value mandates as the country injects €1 trillion into infrastructure and defense under Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

A&O Shearman and Freshfields are advising on Dubizzle’s upcoming IPO on the Dubai Financial Market, which includes both primary and secondary share sales and could value the company at around $2 billion.

Kirkland & Ellis has quietly changed its partner promotion strategy, opting not to issue a public announcement for its 2025 class—a notable departure from its long-standing tradition of publicizing hundreds of promotions each October.

McDermott Will & Schulte, formed by the merger of McDermott Will & Emery and Schulte Roth & Zabel in August, is planning a major London expansion that could more than double its current U.K. headcount of just over 100 lawyers to between 250 and 400.

Sixteen months after Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling finalized their landmark merger, A&O Shearman has made progress toward its vision of combining top-tier work, global reach, and dual U.S./U.K. capabilities, reporting $3.7 billion in revenue and a $2.7 million PEP in fiscal year 2025.

As 2025 nears its end, law firm leaders across the Am Law 200 are cautiously optimistic — and many confident — that the year will be a financial success despite political and economic turbulence. Firms have leaned on billing rate hikes, litigation growth, and quick pivots to offset soft demand and sluggish mid-market deals, with many on pace to beat 2024’s strong results.

Mega M&A deals are making a comeback, with Anglo American’s proposed $53 billion merger with Teck and Union Pacific’s $85 billion bid for Norfolk Southern signaling renewed appetite for large-scale transactions.

Legal AI company Harvey has launched a law school alliance program to integrate its generative AI technology into classrooms at participating schools, including Stanford, NYU, Michigan, UCLA, the University of Texas, and Notre Dame, with more schools invited to join. Read more on our blog.

King & Spalding, founded in 1885 in Atlanta, has grown from its Southern roots into a global powerhouse with 24 offices across 10 countries. The firm built its reputation early through work with the railroad industry and long-standing relationships with clients like Coca-Cola, later expanding into New York, Washington, D.C., and Houston before continuing worldwide.

Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s highest-grossing law firm, recently appointed its first-ever chief operating officer, Gary Levin, marking a significant shift toward the broader Big Law trend of hiring business executives to manage firm operations.

Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s highest-grossing law firm, recently appointed its first-ever chief operating officer, Gary Levin, marking a significant shift toward the broader Big Law trend of hiring business executives to manage firm operations.

In the past week, deal activity remained dominated by large-scale transactions despite an overall slowdown in volume, with 13 deals exceeding $1 billion—including the $10.5 billion acquisition of CommScope’s connectivity and cable solutions business by Amphenol, advised by Latham, Wachtell, and Simpson Thacher.

McDermott Will & Schulte, the newly formed Am Law 50 firm resulting from the merger of McDermott Will & Emery and Schulte Roth & Zabel, has begun integrating leadership across key committees, with former Schulte leaders taking on major roles.

Skadden, Wachtell, Sidley, and Covington played key roles in facilitating a historic merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, marking the largest railroad combination of the decade. The $250 billion cash-and-stock deal, in which Union Pacific will acquire Norfolk Southern (valued at $85 billion), creates the first-ever transcontinental railroad in the U.S. and is projected to deliver $2.75 billion in annual synergies.

Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s highest-grossing law firm, recently appointed its first-ever chief operating officer, Gary Levin, marking a significant shift toward the broader Big Law trend of hiring business executives to manage firm operations.

Despite geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty, global M&A activity surged in the first half of 2025, with total deal value rising 33% year-over-year to $1.98 trillion—the strongest first-half showing since 2022.

Kirkland & Ellis is a global elite law firm with over 3,500 lawyers, known for its strength in corporate, litigation, M&A, private equity, intellectual property, and restructuring.