Weil plans to wind down after partner exits unravel its $2 billion franchise
Weil has about 1,200 lawyers and little or no debt. Its private equity and corporate M&A rainmakers left between August and October, and rivals now take the teams.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges told its partners on Wednesday, 28 October, that the firm plans to wind down. Bloomberg reported it, citing a source briefed on the decision. The Financial Times had reported earlier that day that leaders would recommend dissolution.
Weil’s failure comes from the loss of its business franchise rather than financial weakness. It has little or no debt, and one partner called this year's profit allocation reasonably strong. What broke was a model built on a few star groups. Its private equity and corporate M&A rainmakers left between August and October.
The winners are the rivals taking its teams. The losers are the staff and the holders of its long obligations. Clients with live matters must now choose which team to follow.
About 2,200 people work at Weil: 1,200 lawyers and about 1,000 non-lawyer staff. The report said a financial consultant is expected to be hired shortly to review the books and carry out the wind-down. One top partner said leadership is trying to limit the damage for assistants, paralegals and associates.
The firm is already emptying. At least one practice group leader told associates on Tuesday to look for jobs elsewhere. At least seven management committee members have left or been reported leaving since late 2024. Other large firms said they received CVs from Weil lawyers regularly.
Weil still looked strong in the summer. It was rated the 15th most prestigious law firm, and The American Lawyer put it on its A-List in August. The first big exit came the same month.
How the departures unfolded
Chris Machera, co-head of US private equity, announced a move to Paul Weiss in August. Late in September, Paul Weiss named five more Weil private equity lawyers, three of them partners.
September brought the biggest blow. Michael Aiello, the best-known US corporate M&A lawyer, announced a move to Cravath with five other M&A partners. David Avery-Gee, co-head of the London office, announced a move to Sullivan & Cromwell.
Leadership then lost its successor. Ramona Nee, chosen to lead Weil from January, told the management committee she would not take the job. Simpson Thacher also took four partners, and Skadden hired two Weil partners with SEC backgrounds on 27 October.
Why scale did not protect Weil
Weil's scale shows in the sums. Revenue of nearly $2.1 billion on about 1,200 lawyers is roughly $1.75 million a lawyer. Each lawyer is backed by 0.8 of the roughly 1,000 non-lawyer staff. Both figures are CTOL arithmetic from rounded published numbers, and that payroll stays when a team leaves.
Aiello favoured a smaller, more focused firm, the path Cravath has taken. He had made that clear before he left. Weil's leaders wanted scale. They admired how larger firms absorb the loss of a high-profile partner.
Scale was out of reach, and the gap is wide. Kirkland & Ellis, at $10.6 billion of revenue, is about five times Weil's size. Latham & Watkins, at $8.3 billion, is about four times. Weil is too big to be a specialist like Cravath or Wachtell and too small to match Kirkland or Latham.
Client relationships depended on individual partners. The London-based co-head of Weil's global private equity group has a close relationship with Advent International, a key European client. Three former partners cited that kind of influence as a sign of a few dominant personalities. One said they left partly because Weil looked like a firm of individuals.
A Weil departee called it a symbol of client relationships that had grown too dependent on people. A rival managing partner used the image of a K-shaped economy. Weil, they said, had spent recent years on the down stroke of the K.
Aiello was the other pillar. People inside and outside the firm said he kept his circle small and delegated little high-profile deal work. Without him, they said, the US corporate M&A practice would be a husk of its former self. Those he trained are moving with him to Cravath.
Merger talks and remaining obligations
A merger offered a way out, but talks failed. In September, leaders were already weighing a merger partner. The September long read warned that a deal would get harder if departures continued. Merger talks with Willkie Farr & Gallagher then failed.
Davis Polk had advised Weil on the merger effort. Brian Resnick, a restructuring partner whose work includes Fisker and Dean Foods, is advising on a potential restructuring.
Neil Barr, Davis Polk's managing partner, is also on the Weil team. He worked on two of the biggest law firm mergers of 2025, as Reuters reported. One was the $3.6 billion tie-up of Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader. The other was the $2.7 billion merger of Ashurst and Perkins Coie.
The balance sheet explains the choice of dissolution over bankruptcy. Dewey LeBoeuf filed for bankruptcy in 2012, the largest law firm failure on record. It had about 1,450 lawyers at its peak. What outlasts Weil is its obligations, which include office leases around the world and a pension plan.
Precedent shows the other routes. Stroock & Stroock & Lavan closed in 2023. Cadwalader and Shearman & Sterling suffered a series of departures and merged with rivals, though both were much smaller than Weil.
What happens next
Weil announced a wind-down after showing signs of recovery. In the September long read, Weil said eight former partners rejoined this year. Two announced plans to return in the week to 28 September. One, Peter Feist, who left for Cravath in 2023, will co-head the US private equity practice.
Jonathon Soler, a co-managing partner, said then: "We still see tremendous opportunity to execute on our growth strategy." The returns did not stop the exits. They came as the private equity bench thinned and the corporate M&A bench lost its leader.
Rivals pay aggressively for this talent. Firms rich in private equity, litigation and deal work recruit hard. A partner at a rival said lawyers who sense trouble think: "I don't want to be the last person to turn the lights off."
The next test comes in the weeks after Wednesday 28 October. The consultant's name will show who runs the wind-down. The plan for the office leases around the world and the pension plan will show who holds the claims. Expect more teams to move to Cravath, Paul Weiss, Skadden, Simpson Thacher and Sullivan & Cromwell, as announcements have since August.