What are these rumors about M&A collapsing? Forum

[Anonymous User]

M&A associate at V10 here. On track for 3,000 hours this year. Slowdown is expected, but should still be able to bill 2,400. Either way, it's not unwelcome. I need the rest.

V10 and slowing down, imagine how bad it is at much lower ranked firms...

[Anonymous User]

M&A associate at V10 here. On track for 3,000 hours this year. Slowdown is expected, but should still be able to bill 2,400. Either way, it's not unwelcome. I need the rest.

V10 and slowing down, imagine how bad it is at much lower ranked firms...

V10 anon above. From what I hear around the camp fire, there are plenty of other V10s that are dead right now.

I'm not really worried though. This isn't the shock period of M&A slowdown that was 2008. That was blindsiding. This is a chance for a vacation.

[Anonymous User]

Continuing with the contra-indicators from BK that M&A is slowing down, I know one of Weil/K&E is bringing in above-average sized restructuring classes.

[dingbat]

Funny, I was just advised by a bankruptcy judge NOT to do bankruptcy--but to do corporate-- because the market for bankruptcy has been down. Maybe he was going off old news?

The ideal job security would involve becoming an expert in BOTH M&A and bankruptcy.

The ideal would be at a firm that has well-diversified, counter-cyclical practices and staffs conservatively so it doesn't have to hire and fire when work shifts around. I'm not sure such a firm exists.

It's not so much that a firm like that doesn't exist, but that you as an individual need to be capable hereof. During boom times (circa 2006) a senior Ibanker explained how the finance industry is cyclical and he moved from M&A to restructuring and back every few years

[Anonymous User]

Funny, I was just advised by a bankruptcy judge NOT to do bankruptcy--but to do corporate-- because the market for bankruptcy has been down. Maybe he was going off old news?

The ideal job security would involve becoming an expert in BOTH M&A and bankruptcy.

The ideal would be at a firm that has well-diversified, counter-cyclical practices and staffs conservatively so it doesn't have to hire and fire when work shifts around. I'm not sure such a firm exists.

It's not so much that a firm like that doesn't exist, but that you as an individual need to be capable hereof. During boom times (circa 2006) a senior Ibanker explained how the finance industry is cyclical and he moved from M&A to restructuring and back every few years

another option is to be in a versatile debtor's practice that can just shift to creditor work and buy-side shit when need be.

[thesealocust]

If you're going into OCI and can name a practice group that is (a) corporate and (b) not M&A you get 10 bonus points at the interview.

[dingbat]

If you're going into OCI and can name a practice group that is (a) corporate and (b) not M&A you get 10 bonus points at the interview.

Check.

Do I get bonus points for having years of experience in that specific area?

[thesealocust]

Real points, not just bonus points.

[Anonymous User]

I am an SA at a V15 and our M&A group is pretty busy. I hear on here that its slow in the market, but I'm not seeing it.

[Anonymous User]

Would asking about how the M&A group is holding up during an interview be a bad idea? On the one hand it shows you are moderately aware of what's going on in the world/you might get reassurances about the field if you are interested in it. On the other, it could be a sore spot if it has ground to a halt.

[Borg]

M&A associate at V10 here. On track for 3,000 hours this year. Slowdown is expected, but should still be able to bill 2,400. Either way, it's not unwelcome. I need the rest.

V10 and slowing down, imagine how bad it is at much lower ranked firms...

Vault really isn't a great proxy for deal size. If you look at the league tables (mergermarket, Bloomberg etc.), some of the firms that Vault has outside the top 20 are in the top 10 in terms of both volume and deal size.

[sunynp]

Would asking about how the M&A group is holding up during an interview be a bad idea? On the one hand it shows you are moderately aware of what's going on in the world/you might get reassurances about the field if you are interested in it. On the other, it could be a sore spot if it has ground to a halt.

Yes.

[Anonymous User]

At my non-Vault firm, M&A is crazy slow. Every fucking deal I've gotten staffed on has gotten put on hold. Bankruptcy has slowed, but that is just relative to their insane workload before. There is still plenty of work for everyone.

I think firms expect transactional work to pick back up though, so I wouldn't really fear stating an interest in deal work at OCI, and might be more cautious about stating an interest in BK, because I don't know many people who think BK will be really busy 2.5 years from now.

[IAFG]

Would asking about how the M&A group is holding up during an interview be a bad idea? On the one hand it shows you are moderately aware of what's going on in the world/you might get reassurances about the field if you are interested in it. On the other, it could be a sore spot if it has ground to a halt.

Oh God the answer to this question should not be a mystery to you going into OCI. Talk to a summer from your school/alum and ask first, and only bring it up when you can say that you know it's not slow and that is one of the many things that attracts you to the firm.

[Old Gregg]

If you're going into OCI and can name a practice group that is (a) corporate and (b) not M&A you get 10 bonus points at the interview.

And then you look like a fucking idiot when you can't explain when you have such a specific desire to work in leveraged finance...

If I was interviewing people, and I do for my firm, I would encourage juniors to be as much a generalist in corporate as possible.

[keg411]

At my non-Vault firm, M&A is crazy slow. Every fucking deal I've gotten staffed on has gotten put on hold. Bankruptcy has slowed, but that is just relative to their insane workload before. There is still plenty of work for everyone.

I think firms expect transactional work to pick back up though, so I wouldn't really fear stating an interest in deal work at OCI, and might be more cautious about stating an interest in BK, because I don't know many people who think BK will be really busy 2.5 years from now.

Not all transactional is slow. Real Estate is crazy busy at my firm. But they're almost always crazy busy at my firm.

[Anonymous User]

Corporate associate here. M&A work at my Boston firm is picking up, but has been slower over the last year. Deals are still happening but they are smaller and less frequent. Deals are always ongoing though.

Restructuring is down at my firm. Finance seems to be picking up a bit. It totally depends on the firm though - overall market conditions are not always very meaningful. Even if the overall market is down, if your firm is understaffed (which many are), then you can be busy. It doesn't matter what the market is doing if your firm is overstaffed or understaffed for the work volume. Deal flow has definitely picked up from the 2008-2009 slowdown.

[Anonymous User]

At my non-Vault firm, M&A is crazy slow. Every fucking deal I've gotten staffed on has gotten put on hold. Bankruptcy has slowed, but that is just relative to their insane workload before. There is still plenty of work for everyone.

I think firms expect transactional work to pick back up though, so I wouldn't really fear stating an interest in deal work at OCI, and might be more cautious about stating an interest in BK, because I don't know many people who think BK will be really busy 2.5 years from now.

Not all transactional is slow. Real Estate is crazy busy at my firm. But they're almost always crazy busy at my firm.

Jealous. At the firm I was a SA at, RE has slowed down considerably since there is very little development in the market and the foreclosure work from the banks is drying up. It's the biggest practice group in the office and they havent taken on a first year associate in four years. Bummer. But corporate is swamped.

[keg411]

At my non-Vault firm, M&A is crazy slow. Every fucking deal I've gotten staffed on has gotten put on hold. Bankruptcy has slowed, but that is just relative to their insane workload before. There is still plenty of work for everyone.

I think firms expect transactional work to pick back up though, so I wouldn't really fear stating an interest in deal work at OCI, and might be more cautious about stating an interest in BK, because I don't know many people who think BK will be really busy 2.5 years from now.

Not all transactional is slow. Real Estate is crazy busy at my firm. But they're almost always crazy busy at my firm.

Jealous. At the firm I was a SA at, RE has slowed down considerably since there is very little development in the market and the foreclosure work from the banks is drying up. It's the biggest practice group in the office and they havent taken on a first year associate in four years. Bummer. But corporate is swamped.

My firm does RE finance work, not foreclosures.

[Julio_El_Chavo]

At my non-Vault firm, M&A is crazy slow. Every fucking deal I've gotten staffed on has gotten put on hold. Bankruptcy has slowed, but that is just relative to their insane workload before. There is still plenty of work for everyone.

I think firms expect transactional work to pick back up though, so I wouldn't really fear stating an interest in deal work at OCI, and might be more cautious about stating an interest in BK, because I don't know many people who think BK will be really busy 2.5 years from now.

Not all transactional is slow. Real Estate is crazy busy at my firm. But they're almost always crazy busy at my firm.

TBF, when M&A is slowing down, it's usually true that most of the other areas of corporate law are also slowing down. M&A activity (or lack thereof) is a symptom of the economy and it's not like other areas of corporate law are counter-cyclical (other than BK and restructuring).