The Legal Architects Behind the Steel Curtain
A legion of top legal minds facilitated the transaction:
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Ropes & Gray LLP led Nippon’s legal counsel, joined by PJT Partners and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as strategic advisors, and Citi as financial advisor.
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U.S. Steel was backed by Milbank LLP, Covington & Burling LLP, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Financial advisers included Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and Evercore.
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Key legal players included Bob Kennedy, Mark Plotkin, Josh Cammaker, and Ariel Deckelbaum, among others.
Forging the Future
Nippon’s Eiji Hashimoto declared the partnership’s aim to become the world’s preeminent steelmaker, with Mori echoing Trump’s mantra of prioritizing “American jobs and national security.”
A study commissioned by U.S. Steel claims the partnership will support more than 100,000 U.S. jobs, a figure that could shape the economic and political legacy of the deal in an election-charged climate.
In an industry born in the furnaces of Pittsburgh and reshaped by globalization, the completion of this deal signals both an end and a beginning — one tempered by fierce loyalty, economic ambition, and unprecedented political entanglement.
