Top 30 US law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges is set to wind down its operations after failing to halt a growing wave of partner departures or find a merger partner.
Partners are preparing to vote on a recommendation to close the firm after being briefed on its predicament by the management committee earlier today.
The firm, which employs around 1,200 lawyers and generated more than $2bn in revenue last year, said in a statement: “Following a careful review of strategic alternatives, the firm’s management committee has recommended to the partnership that the firm pursue an orderly wind-down. The partners are expected to vote in the coming days.
“During the wind-down process over the coming months, the firm will continue serving clients with the dedication and excellence that have defined it since its founding and will remain committed to supporting its colleagues.”
The firm’s impending demise has unfolded at breakneck speed, seemingly triggered by a series of high-profile defections by leading partners since the summer.
In August, the firm’s former private equity co-head, Chris Machera, joined Paul Weiss. Three more partners joined Machera at Paul Weiss in September at the same time as Cravath Swaine & Moore snapped up one of its best-known US corporate dealmakers, Michael Aiello, along with five other partners.
In all, more than two dozen partners have decamped from Weil in the US and London in recent months, with a raft of further departures hitting the headlines in recent days.
Amid the exits, Weil began merger talks with New York firm Willkie, though these ended late last week, according to Bloomberg Law, which said the two sides had signed a non-disclosure agreement to discuss a tie-up.
It also emerged last week that Ramona Nee, who had been due to take over as Weil’s executive partner in January from longtime leader Barry Wolf, had told the firm she would not take up the post.
Lawyers from Davis Polk & Wardwell, meanwhile, have been enlisted to advise the firm on its options, including restructuring partner Brian Resnick and managing partner Neil Barr, according to media reports.
The speed at which Weil has been engulfed in a seemingly unstoppable crisis has surprised many in the profession, although others have pointed to previous law firm failures, notably that of Dewey & LeBoeuf, which filed for bankruptcy in 2012 following an exodus of partners, and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, which closed in 2023.
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