Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the blue-chip law firm that advised on landmark cases such as the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and General Motors, is planning to dissolve after its race to find a merger or shore up its partnership failed. The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Weil told its partners the firm should wind down. The firm said its management committee had recommended an "orderly wind-down" after a "careful review of strategic alternatives," and that partners are expected to vote in the coming days.
The collapse has shaken Wall Street and raised questions about how fragile even the most powerful firms can be. Weil's talks over a potential merger with Willkie Farr & Gallagher and other firms broke down this week, and Ramona Nee, who had been chosen as its next leader, no longer wanted the top job. The firm was already hit earlier this year when a series of top partners left, taking teams of lawyers to rivals.
Weil also struggled to keep pace with rivals such as Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins, whose growth was fuelled by the private capital boom. Weil lacked a flagship large-cap client such as Apollo, Blackstone or KKR, and partners handling some of its biggest accounts in the $25tn private capital industry moved to Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher.
Prominent US firms have failed before. Stroock & Stroock & Lavan closed in 2023, and Dewey LeBoeuf, which had about 1,450 lawyers at its peak, filed for bankruptcy more than a decade earlier. Weil says it will keep serving clients over the coming months, but the failure of a major firm during a period of near-record Wall Street activity raises the question of how else a top firm could fall.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing