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About ten former Weil, Gotshal & Manges partners have hired Foley & Lardner litigator Peter Wang to investigate whether the firm's leadership, including executive partner Barry Wolf, breached its fiduciary duties during Weil's final period, Above the Law reported on 4 November.
The group left Weil over the past five years, before the recent wave of exits. Their move comes a week after Weil's management committee recommended an orderly wind-down on 28 October. That decision will end the 95-year-old firm, which had roughly 1,200 lawyers and reported over $2bn in revenue in 2025, CNBC reported.
Aiello's September move to Cravath set off a partner run that ended Weil in weeks
The trigger was corporate department chair Michael Aiello's departure for Cravath with five M&A partners and an estimated $100-150M of revenue. That move set off a partner run that unraveled the firm in three to four weeks, Original Jurisdiction reported. The unraveling followed designated successor Ramona Nee's decision in January to decline the executive partner role. At least seven management committee members have departed or plan to leave since late 2024. Merger talks with Willkie Farr & Gallagher also collapsed, Bloomberg Law reported.
Weil's financials did not look like those of a failing firm. It ranked #29 by revenue, at $2.078bn in 2025, and #20 by profits per equity partner, at $5.593M. The firm had no debt and was on pace for possibly $6M PEP in 2026, per Original Jurisdiction. PEP grew only 4.13% in 2025 while peers posted double-digit gains. The firm had also fallen from #9 to #20 in PEP rankings since 2020. Original Jurisdiction attributed the vote to rapid partner departures against fixed costs rather than insolvency.
Cravath, Simpson Thacher, Paul Weiss and Kirkland take the corporate and funds partners
The partners went to rivals in the practices that drove Weil's profits. Cravath, traditionally a lockstep firm that rarely recruited laterally, took Aiello and the five M&A partners, per Original Jurisdiction. Global private equity co-head Doug Warner moved to Paul, Weiss. In London, Simpson Thacher is adding finance and private funds partners Murray Cox, Simon Saitowitz, Stephanie Srulowitz, Brian Parness and Andrew Nichol, Law.com International reported. London private funds and finance was a hot target practice, per Law360 Pulse.
Nee herself is in advanced talks to join Kirkland & Ellis with 40 or more Weil professionals, Bloomberg Law reported. A summer 2026 wave of private equity partners had already moved to Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher before the September corporate exits. Analysts described the pattern as the free-agent lateral market that firms use to grow turning on a $2bn firm after its rainmakers left, per The Global Legal Post.
Clawbacks from former partners' distributions test a solvent wind-down
Weil retained AlixPartners and Davis Polk restructuring partner Stephen Resnick to manage a process it believes can be solvent. It also offered associates and staff 90-day salary and benefits continuation, per Bloomberg Law. A wind-down estate would collect outstanding client fees, resolve partner claims, terminate leases and pursue recoveries. Those recoveries could include clawbacks from former partners' distributions and capital repayments, 9fin reported. Above the Law said former partners retaining counsel a week after the vote suggests a less orderly process than advertised. Equity stakes will be paid only if value remains, per Above the Law.
The firm built its name on the Lehman Brothers, General Motors and Enron restructurings. It is now running its own wind-down through outside restructuring counsel, per CNBC. Its London office on Fetter Lane, with 45 partners and 200 solicitors, faces potential job losses, Law Society Gazette reported.
A firm with no debt and top-20 profitability was unwound in weeks after corporate and private equity partners left while fixed costs remained. The people who had already left are now retaining litigators to contest how the remaining value is divided.
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