Welcome to Lookzy.  Lookzy is the daily email newsletter that makes staying up to date as a BigLaw lawyer fun and easy (because your job often won't be).

We cover the big stories your colleagues are talking about, digests of the day's big litigation and corporate news, salary/bonus/layoff developments and interesting law firm and law school news. We keep it topical and direct so that you can go back to billing.

In today's Lookzy:

• An overview of the global M&A market

• Tesla autopilot suits heat up

• A mega series B

• Rumors of Skadden associate gifts

GLOBAL DEAL SLOWDOWN

Q3 2022 represented the largest year-over-year percentage decline in overall deal value since 2009. That is the big takeaway of the most recent edition of Cravath’s Quarterly Review, which examines quarterly trends in M&A, activism and corporate governance. From the publication:

During the first nine months of 2022, global M&A activity slowed substantially compared to the same period in 2021, with $2.8 trillion in announced deal value, a year-over-year decrease of ~34% compared to the first nine months of 2021 and the largest year-over-year percentage decline since 2009. Q3 2022 marked the first quarter to fall below $1 trillion in announced deal value since Q2 2020. There were approximately 40,300 deals announced globally in the first nine months of 2022, a year-over-year decrease of ~17% compared to the same period in 2021.Check out the Quarterly Review here for the full data and numerous key deals and cases developing the landscape over the last quarter. 

ECON SNAPSHOT

The difference between special bonuses and layoffs.

Today: Stay tuned for the Fed's latest rate decision, expected to be a 75 basis point raise.  

THE VERDICT

Arguing today's litigation news

Roomba enrichment. A shareholder sued iRobot in Delaware alleging that iRobot's planned $1.65 billion sale to Amazon was designed to benefit iRobot's cofounder at the shareholders' expense.

Autopilot under scrutiny.  A manslaughter trial against Tesla set to begin in Los Angeles for a fatal crash caused by a Tesla operating on Autopilot is set to begin on November 15th.  The trial is a first-of-its kind test for the legal responsibility of a human driver in a car that was partly driving itself, and comes as civil cases prep for trial next year and the DOJ investigates claims regarding the self-driving capabilities of its vehicles.

SEC fine time.  Koppers Holdings Inc. has agreed to pay a $1.3 million civil fine in order to resolve charges from the SEC for failing to disclose that it had met its debt reduction targets by withholding substantial past-due vendor payments during its 2019 fiscal year.

Wall Street Bets suit.  RC Ventures LLC, Ryan Cohen's venture fund which owned 10% or more of Bed Bath & Beyond common stock and profited from trading the stock in a short time frame, was sued by a BB&B shareholder, who argued that the fund should disgorge its profits. 

Gambling class action.  Block & Leviton LLP and Friedman Oster & Tejtel PLLC were appointed as co-lead counsel in a consolidated class action stockholder suit in Delaware Chancery Court over Golden Nugget Online Gaming Inc.'s $1.56 billion all-stock sale to fantasy sports and gambling company DraftKings Inc.

THE DEAL

Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news

Deals deals deals.  Cinven, a private equity firm based in London, has announced an all-cash deal to acquire TaxAct, an online tax preparation software provider, for approximately $720 million.  This is Cinven's fifth acquisition in 2022. 

Big equity and debt raise.  Bright Machines, an automated manufacturing company who pulled its SPAC deal in December 2021, raised a $100 million Series B and $32M in debt. 

Bonus clawbacks. The SEC adopted new rules that expand its powers to claw back executives’ compensation when companies restate their financials due to compliance lapses. 

Ship has sailed. The DOJ lost its attempt to stop Booz Allen's $440 million acquisition of EverWatch, a deal which closed two weeks ago. The Judge noted that "that ship has sailed" and, well, we tend to agree.

Twitter downgraded.  Moody's downgraded Twitter's credit rating to B1 from Ba2 following its acquisition by Elon Musk. 

BUSINESS OF THE FIRM

Firm Moves: 

• O'Melveney & Myers hired partner Rebecca Mermelstein, a former federal prosecutor and co-chief of the general crimes unit in SDNY.

• Vinson & Elkins hired Rebecca Baker from Bracewell and Patricia Adams and Joo Hyun Lee from Simpson.

• Former leader of the DOJ's Criminal Division Nicholas McQuaid returned to Latham.

Industry News:

• DLA Piper asked a federal judge to reject a legal recruiter's $2 million request for attorney's fees against it and another firm.

• UK law firm Gunnercooke opened an office in New York, its first in the US.

• Skadden associate gifts this year reportedly include succulents, among other things. Last year, associates were offered iPads (and some wild retention bonuses associates still haven't gotten over). Sign of the times.

BOILERPLATE

Yesterday, a New York law went into effect requiring companies in the state with four or more employees to include a salary range on all job postings.  Some companies are taking it a bit more seriously than others...

Alright, back to billing.  That's all, folks!