Andrea Orcel’s Uni Credit is preparing to seize control of Commerzbank and overhaul its supervisory board as early as January, accelerating its timetable for the biggest European bank takeover since the financial crisis. Evonik has rejected a €10.3bn offer from its larger German rival BASF, sparking a potential takeover battle amid a push for mergers in Europe’s struggling chemicals industry. Earlier this month DD reported on a series of departures from Weil, Gotshal & Manges, one of New York’s most prestigious law firms, most notably top US corporate dealmaker Michael Aiello’s move to Cravath, Swaine & Moore. At smaller firms Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and Shearman & Sterling, departures precipitated mergers with bigger rivals. Weil’s leaders have discussed whether the firm should find a merger partner. Weil’s leaders say the situation there is symptomatic of a wider change in Big Law, where talent wars are raging. "Obviously we have had a few concentrated departures in the last little period, but more broadly I see this as an industry dynamic," Jonathon Soler, co-managing partner of Weil, told the FT. Weil has about 1,200 lawyers and revenues of about $2bn. One important theme is the importance at Weil of a group of star lawyers, people who play a dominant role at the firm. Aiello was the most prominent of those. A large number of people also mentioned to the FT Marco Compagnoni in London as an example of the strength of influence of a few dominant personalities at the firm. One of DD’s main takeaways from the story is the importance of sentiment — vibes, if you will — to the success of a firm. Weil’s leaders say it will continue to focus on growth. But one US law firm managing partner applied the idea of a K-shaped economy to the legal industry. "You’re either on the up of the ‘K’ or the down of the ‘K’," they said. "Over the last few years, Weil has been very much on the down of the ‘K’."

Monzo Bank was founded in 2015 with lofty ambitions to take the fight to Britain’s biggest financial institutions. The digital bank, along with fintechs Revolut and Starling Bank, had hoped slick mobile phone apps and better technology would lure away armies of young consumers from sleepy incumbents. However, Monz...