Kirkland & Ellis confirmed today (Friday) that it has hired Weil’s co-managing partner, Ramona Nee, alongside a team of 40 private equity M&A and debt finance lawyers from the firm ahead of its dissolution.
Reports surfaced last week that Nee was in talks to join Kirkland with a large team, with the confirmed figure making it one of the largest group hires from Weil since its headline-grabbing decision late last month to recommend an orderly wind-down to the partnership.
Gibson Dunn is set to hire up to 120 funds lawyers from the firm across the US and UK, including more than 20 partners, with Sidley Austin and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett also reportedly in talks to add partners and teams.
Joining Nee for the move to Kirkland are fellow Boston-based private equity and M&A partners Jakub Wronski, Emily Willey and Michael Messina and New York debt finance partners Benton Lewis and Paul Overmyer.
Jon Ballis, chairman of Kirkland’s executive committee, noted the partners’ relationships with leading private equity sponsors, adding they brought “outstanding experience across sophisticated PE/M&A and finance and will be a terrific fit with our platform and our clients”.
Nee, a Weil lifer who also co-leads the firm’s US private equity practice, had been due to take over as the firm’s executive partner next January from longtime leader Barry Wolf. However, it emerged last month that she had told the management committee she would not take up the post.
Dozens of partners have left Weil in recent months, among them Michael Aiello, the former chair of the firm’s corporate department and one of its best-known US corporate dealmakers, who joined Cravath Swaine & Moore in September alongside five other M&A partners.
Nee commented: “My partners and I are grateful for the opportunity to join a world-class partnership and excited to join ranks with the exceptional professionals at Kirkland. The Kirkland platform is truly incredible and is an outstanding fit for our clients. The collegiality and collaboration extended by Kirkland during this period is very meaningful to me and the team.”
Reports emerged this week that Sidley Austin was nearing a deal to bring in senior London private equity partners Marco Compagnoni and Jonathan Wood from Weil, alongside further PE partners in Germany and potentially its entire 22-partner Paris office. Sidley Austin did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is hiring around 20 finance associates and support staff from the firm in London, according to Law.com, having picked up a clutch of London finance partners, including practice head Tom Richards last month. The firm did not respond to a request for comment on the latest hires.
Weil has appointed restructuring consultancy AlixPartners to help manage its planned closure, alongside lawyers from Davis Polk, according to Reuters. The firm intends to pursue an out-of-court wind-down rather than enter bankruptcy proceedings, provided it can meet its financial obligations.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday that a group of around 10 former Weil partners was working with Foley & Lardner litigator Peter Wang, in a move that points to possible disputes over payouts and management decisions. The group includes lawyers who left in the past five years, but not those who departed in the recent wave of exits.
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