One major source of work has been IPOs from life-sciences and biotech companies.
In December alone, gene-therapy company 4D Molecular Therapeutics, represented by Latham & Watkins, put its IPO legal fees at $1.9 million; Inhibikase Therapeutics, developing treatments for Parkinson s Disease, represented by Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, set aside $1.9 million for lawyers; and AbCellera Biologics Inc., a Canadian biotech company working with Goodwin and Blake Cassels & Graydon that helps develop antibody-based therapies, put its fees at $4.5 million.
Those numbers are according to the companies IPO paperwork, and the final number the law firms see could look different. A lot of biotech companies are less susceptible to trends in the economy than other sectors, said Yasin Keshvargar, a partner at Davis Polk who said such work has kept him busy all year. A clinical trial development is very expensive, and it takes a lot of cash.