Liberty Media, the media conglomerate owned by billionaire John Malone, has shifted some of its legal work from its longtime adviser Baker Botts to the California-founded firm O’Melveny & Myers. The move comes amid changes for Liberty Media, including the recent approval of a split of the Atlanta Braves into a separate, publicly traded entity.
O’Melveny & Myers has been working with Liberty Media since at least March, and the decision to expand this partnership indicates the firm’s ability to meet the evolving needs of Liberty’s business. The media company, known for owning Formula 1 and Sirius XM, among other sports, entertainment, and media holdings, expressed confidence in O’Melveny & Myers’ capacity to serve its current requirements.
For Baker Botts, the shift in work marks a significant change as Liberty Media has been a longstanding and substantial client, providing reliable and recurring legal work for decades. In the previous year, Baker Botts handled large Liberty Media transactions, including the plan to split off the Atlanta Braves. However, the number of transactions on which the firm advised Liberty Media appears to have declined in recent months, with the last mention of Liberty Media as a client made by Baker Botts in November.
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In the past, Baker Botts benefited from Liberty Media’s custom outsourcing model, where the firm was hired to handle a substantial portion of its legal work. Liberty’s former chief legal officer, Rich Baer, mentioned in a 2019 interview with the American Lawyer that Baker Botts functioned as part of their law department, allowing Liberty to maintain a small in-house legal team comprising only four lawyers at the time.
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The shift to O’Melveny & Myers comes under the leadership of Liberty Media’s Chief Legal Officer, Renee Wilm, who assumed the position in 2019 after serving as a senior partner at Baker Botts for more than 22 years.
While Baker Botts acknowledges Liberty Media as a valued client, the firm declined to comment on the specifics of its engagements with the media company. The move to change legal advisers may have been influenced by various factors, including Liberty Media’s business evolution and O’Melveny & Myers’ ability to align better with the company’s current requirements.
Recent changes within Baker Botts include the election of Danny David as its new managing partner in June. The firm has faced a decline in headcount over the years, which some attribute to the entry of other large firms into the Texas legal market. In response to the competitive landscape, most of the candidates for the managing partner position at Baker Botts expressed a willingness to pursue a merger with another firm to enhance their scale, strengthen their defenses against poaching, and capture a more substantial share of the deals market, as reported by Bloomberg Law.
The decision to change legal advisers reflects the dynamic nature of the legal industry and the strategic considerations companies make to meet their evolving needs. For O’Melveny & Myers, this presents a significant opportunity to deepen its relationship with Liberty Media and expand its portfolio in the media and entertainment sector. Meanwhile, Baker Botts will likely reassess its approach to client engagement and retention to stay competitive in the ever-changing legal landscape.
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