The Week at Ropes & Gray: Global Tech Tie-Up; Asia Honors; Top Biopharma Deals; a New Partner in New York; a New President in Washington

Weekly highlights of what’s happening at Ropes & Gray:

• Tech publishing was abuzz over a cross-border deal announced this week in which Beijing-based China Oceanwide agreed to acquire global media and market research leader International Data Group.  A team of Ropes & Gray lawyers from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Boston advised China Oceanwide.
• Deals like China Oceanwide are gaining recognition for Ropes & Gray in Asia. Chambers Asia-Pacific, the leading legal directory of top global law firms, ranked the firm highly in 18 practice areas and geographies.  Clients noted Ropes & Gray’s collaborative approach in working hand-in-hand with clients, and colleagues, around the globe.  Ropes & Gray is “head and shoulders the best law firm I’ve worked with and the best team I’ve worked with,” said one client.
• The firm’s M&A work also was noted in the pharmaceutical business. Ropes & Gray advised on five of the 10 transactions identified as BioWorld Today’s  top biopharmaceutical M&A deals of 2016, including Shire’s $32 billion acquisition of Baxalta and $5.9 billion acquisition of Dyax, and Pfizer’s $14 billion acquisition of Medivation.  
• Our work in the life sciences industry also focuses on regulatory issues, and this week the FDA issued final guidance on the post-market management of cybersecurity in medical devices. This new alert from Ropes & Gray’s FDA regulatory and digital health teams summarizes key aspects of the guidance and identifies differences from the draft version issued in January 2016.
• The firm welcomed back Jim Brown to the tax practice as a partner in the firm’s 350-lawyer New York office. Jim previously practiced at Ropes & Gray for 15 years. He focuses on advising clients in asset management on their tax-related issues.
• Finally, a new president is sworn in today, and in this new podcast, Doug Hallward-Driemeier, chair of the firm’s appellate & Supreme Court practice, and counsel Justin Florence, who previously served as special assistant and associate counsel to President Obama in the White House, discuss the potential levers of policy change that are available to the incoming Trump administration and the new Congress. Read more and listen to other podcasts in our Capital Insights series about the issues and potential regulatory enforcement changes emanating from Washington, D.C.