The Week at Ropes & Gray: BidFair Acquires Sotheby’s; Restructuring Litigation Update; Sequoia Concentration Appeal; Developments in Life Sciences and Health Care; New Alumni Podcast Series

In The News
June 21, 2019

Below are weekly highlights of what’s happening at Ropes & Gray:

  • Famed auction house Sotheby’s will be acquired by BidFair, which announced a proposed $3.7 billion acquisition. The transaction will result in Sotheby's returning to private ownership after 31 years as a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Ropes & Gray is advising BidFair on the financing aspects of the acquisition.
  • Ropes & Gray’s restructuring litigation team secured victories in three major bankruptcy disputes during recent weeks: Tribune, Energy Future Holdings and Momentive. Our latest restructuring litigation update highlights these cases.
  • The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard oral arguments in an appeal of a district court ruling that dismissed allegations against Sequoia Fund over its investment in Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Litigation & enforcement partners Rob Skinner and Amy Roy, who lead a Ropes & Gray team representing Sequoia, discussed the appeal in Compliance Reporter.
  • There were a number of developments affecting the pharma, life sciences and health care industries, and Ropes & Gray lawyers with vast experience in those areas offered their insights. The U.S. Department of Justice has issued guidelines on cooperation credit in False Claims Act matters for life sciences companies, and life sciences partner Greg Levine, life sciences counsel Beth Weinman, and litigation & enforcement counsel Samantha Barrett Badlam examined the ramifications in Law360. The Trump Administration’s American Patients First strategy set four priorities to help curb prescription drug prices: improve competition, improve negotiation with drugmakers, incentivize lower list prices and reduce out-of-pocket costs. In a new video, health care partner Tom Bulleit examines the legal implications. Meanwhile, health care providers are increasingly undertaking vertical integration transactions to reduce costs, improve care, keep up with competitors and participate in evolving reimbursement programs. Health care partners Tim McCrystal and Adrianne Ortega and antitrust associate David Young analyzed the potential legal risks of vertical integration in Bloomberg Law. And in China, the government submitted a second draft of the Drug Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China for deliberation. Life sciences partner Katherine Wang addressed the proposed changes in Asia-Pacific Biotech News.
  • Ropes & Gray expanded its robust podcast offerings with a new podcast series that offers wide-ranging professional insights from firm alumni. In the inaugural episode, IP litigation partner Matt Rizzolo welcomes alumnus Jeff Gleason—assistant general counsel at Delaware North, a global leader in hospitality and food services management—to discuss the differences between working at a law firm and working in-house, as well as the challenges of moving to an internal role.
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