The default option

Profiles of eight attorneys poised for prominent roles in bankruptcy, privatization and international M&A.

Despite the inevitable fighting and lobbying, much of Obama's regulatory package may well become law.

Consolidation continues among telecoms serving low-density, slow-growing markets. Despite some blowups, dealmaking rolls on.

BlackRock-BGI probably won't set off a rash of BIG asset management deals. Potential acquirers are scarce, and vendor finance is hard to come by. Companies that can raise equity will have the edge.

Merrill Lynch's track record includes some of the sector's most ill-timed, ill-fated acquisitions.

Economies have stabilized, but unemployment will get worse, and banks face further losses. No wonder private equity investors are a cautious lot.

A report argues that private equity governance practice is worse than you'd think. Unfortunately, it's full of holes.

Jim McCann of 1-800-Flowers.com likes to acquire talent, not just products.

After winning Silicon Graphics out of bankruptcy, Rackable Systems has its work cut out for it. Competition from the likes of Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun Microsystems made existence tough for SGI, and the combined company will have its hands full.

HCA tried to persuade investors to give it freedom to deal with its debt. They resisted. CLOs have a strong incentive to approve HCA's request because of the size of its loans and the prospect that they might be repaid early if HCA issues more bonds to reduce its senior debt.

Who could forget the scandals, the bubble or the wars? But despite our wariness, prosperity suddenly broke out. The first signs of a buyout boom became visible, and banks continued to consolidate.

As the recession has tightened its grip, advice about saving has been replaced with a tyrannical fiscal correctness. Remember the carp.

Do proxy advisers wield real power? The outcome of two highly visible proxy fights and an academic study suggest not.

The Obama administration's problem is how to make merger investigations more uniform within the FTC and the DOJ.

The traditional model of offshore funds, typically set up in the Cayman Islands, has recently faced unseen levels of scrutiny. As a result, the future of the so-called unregulated offshore centers has been called into question.

Tips on selecting the right buyer for your strategic disposition.

The authors discuss how to put teeth in advance notice bylaws.

Chrysler's ride through bankruptcy kept Judge Robert Gerber busy. Now he must drive the even larger, and possibly more contentious GM bankruptcy through court. He will have to draw upon prior experience overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings of Adelphia, Global Crossing and Lyondell Chemical.

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Genentech's former chief of product development since 2004, takes over the chancellor's chair at the University of California, San Francisco.

KKR's relations with Wall Street have been rocky through the years. A few years ago, the PE firm tried to scale back its reliance on third-party sources of capital. Now, KKR is partnering with Fidelity to open IPOs to retail customers.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore's Minh Van Ngo.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges' Susheel Kirpalani.

Sarah Paterson of Slaughter and May.

Masonite International's Chapter 11 reorganization was in some respects a three-month, running cell-phone conversation between CEO Fred Lynch and bankruptcy counsel Jonathan Henes of Kirkland & Ellis.

Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier's Ben Burman is the sole non-French partner at the prestigious French law firm and one of very few to be found among its rivals.

David Buck of Andrews Kurth

At once a contrarian and a team player, Curtin marked himself for an international career as a corporate finance lawyer, something that might account for his rapid ascent at Hogan, which made him head of European corporate practice last year.

Patrick Dziewolski of Bredin Prat.

Departures from Wall Street firms' infrastructure units have recently been in the limelight.

When Andrew Merrill joined Finsbury three years ago, he began a search for another U.S. partner, which he finally found in Kekst's Jeremy Fielding.

Privately held Ramius bought publicly traded investment bank Cowen Group for an estimated $450 million in a deal that will enable the hedge fund to go public under the Cowen name.

Verizon Communications signed two large deals last month when it agreed to sell $2.35 billion of wireless assets to peer AT&T and it agreed to sell local wireline operations in 14 states to Frontier Communications.

Barclays lends Blackrock an inexpensive hand, Cohen returns to i-banking and Verizon rings up Debeviose.

See The Deal's lists of the top firms and practitioners with active bankruptcy cases.

While the public was trained on the pending bankruptcies of the automakers, healthcare was an industry bleeding heavily.

Citigroup Inc. reached a definitive agreement with the U.S. government for its exchange offer of $58 billion on preferred shares for common.

Every regulator gets to defend traditional prerogatives by ginning up support from corporate constituents