Mergers & Acquisitions

Expert Analysis

• CFIUS During The Shutdown: What It Means For Deals

  

  With no clear end in sight to the government shutdown — including the shutdown of a majority of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States — global companies, strategic investors and their outside counsel must carefully consider the ongoing impact on deals at all stages, say attorneys at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

• Sears’ Biggest Sale (Itself) Offers Valuable Lessons For Retail

  

  Although a deal announced Wednesday could keep open more than half the department stores that retail dinosaur Sears Roebuck and Company had when it filed for bankruptcy protection last October, Sears remains a cautionary tale for the retail industry, say Robert Marticello and Philip Strok of Smiley Wang-Ekvall LLP.

• Arbitrators And Mediators Should Reflect Society's Diversity

  

  Alternative dispute resolution providers have made great strides toward diversity, but recent statistics show there is still work to be done. There are certain steps ADR providers can take to actively recruit more women and minority candidates to serve as arbitrators and mediators, says James Jenkins of the American Arbitration Association.

• Why AFAs Are Key To The Future Of Legal Practice

  

  Alternative fee agreements can help align law firm and client interests, increase efficiency and eliminate corporate extortion, among other benefits. They are the best thing to happen to the practice of law in decades, says Kelly Eisenlohr-Moul at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.

• Rebuttal

  Door Maker Case Is A Boon To Private Antitrust Litigants

  

  A recent Law360 guest article argued that the Virginia federal court's decision in Steves and Sons v. Jeld-Wen casts doubt on the value of pre-merger clearance. But the ruling raises a much more important issue — a private plaintiff had to do what the U.S. Department of Justice wouldn’t, says Jamie Miller of the Alioto Law Firm.

• Series

  Judging A Book: Barron Reviews 'The Clamor Of Lawyers'

  

  Can lawyers lead a revolution? According to "The Clamor of Lawyers: The American Revolution and Crisis in the Legal Profession" — a slim but elegant volume by Peter Charles Hoffer and Williamjames Hull Hoffer — they can and they did, says First Circuit Judge David Barron.

• Common Stockholders Can Wa[i]ve Appraisal Rights Goodbye

  

  The Delaware Court of Chancery recently held that language in an agreement requiring minority stockholders to waive appraisal rights was enforceable. Though the case is already on appeal, practitioners should make sure agreements with drag-along rights include unambiguous waiver provisions whenever possible, say attorneys at Goodwin Procter LLP.

• Discovery Confidentiality At Risk After Columbia Pipeline

  

  The Delaware Court of Chancery's recent Columbia Pipeline ruling highlights the risk that litigants may find their confidential materials, produced in discovery, attached to their opponents' filings for the purpose of unsealing the documents, say Arthur Bookout and Lilianna Townsend of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

• 4 Takeaways From Sunny 2019 M&A Forecast

  

  Nearly two-thirds of the respondents in my firm's annual mergers and acquisitions survey expect the M&A market to strengthen in the next 12 months — the most positive outlook in the survey's 14-year history, says Michael Fannon of Dykema Gossett PLLC.

• Opinion

  The Case For Lawyer-Directed Litigation Funding In NY: Part 2

  

  Lawyer-directed nonrecourse litigation funding is more likely to protect a lawyer's exercise of independent professional judgment than traditional means of litigation finance, and furthermore enables worthwhile cases that otherwise could not be funded, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Thompson of Holland & Knight LLP.