LegalTimes rightly points out that there is one group of lawyers who are exceedingly busy right now, notwithstanding general market trends.
Since October, lawyers at the Treasury Department’s Office of General Counsel have completed $306 billion worth of deal work stemming from the Troubled Assets Relief Program. In a few short months, they’ve closed 418 separate transactions with financial institutions receiving funding under TARP’s capital purchase program.
That would be a hell of a year for an entire firm. In fact, it would be #1 on the league tables for most years for both total dollar value and deals done. Unlike the big firms that typically inhabit those rankings, though, the vast majority of that work has fallen to the eight lawyers in the banking and finance section of the OGC.
They’re getting a little bit of help, though. Hughes Hubbard and Squire Sanders (which has laid off 19 attorneys and 20 associates since November) have both got $5 million retainers for TARP work.
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How do I get me some of that TARP money?
That is a ton of work! We should all be that lucky.