- U.S. & Americas
- Mergers & combinations
A post on Bluesky argued that if Weil Gotshal & Manges cannot complete a merger, further partner departures could leave the firm resembling Dewey & LeBoeuf. The post linked to a Wall Street Journal article. That comparison appeared the same week The American Lawyer reported that Weil is working to close a merger deal. Sources described the next few weeks as important for a firm that generated $2.077bn in revenue and $5.593m in profit per partner last year.
Dewey & LeBoeuf collapsed in 2012 in the largest law-firm bankruptcy in United States history, after partners left the firm en masse. The post draws a limited comparison, based on whether partner departures move faster than a deal can be completed.
The American Lawyer reports Weil negotiating a merger at $2.077bn revenue
Weil held a virtual all-partner meeting on 20 October. Leadership asked partners to stay calm, avoid leaking information to the media and asked some to sign NDAs, Legal Business reported. More than 40 partners have left globally since January. The firm began examining merger options after a wave of rainmaker departures, Above the Law noted, about a month after it publicly said it was not in merger discussions with any firm.
City AM reported that Willkie Farr & Gallagher, with revenue of about $2bn, and Houston-based Vinson & Elkins, at $1.11bn, are viewed as plausible suitors. Weil is said to want a partner with a large national presence, Texas offices and an appetite for expansion in New York.
Aiello's six-partner team to Cravath among the 2026 Weil departures
Several departures involved senior partners. Corporate chair and management-committee member Michael Aiello left for Cravath on 11 September with a six-partner M&A team that included co-head Matt Gilroy, Eoghan Keenan, Amanda Fenster, Michelle Sargent and Megan Pendleton, Bloomberg Law reported. Aiello had led Weil's roughly 600-lawyer corporate department and advised Fox on its $22bn Roku deal.
Securities litigation head and management-committee member Caroline Hickey Zalka was the most recent high-profile departure as of the merger reports, according to The American Lawyer. Earlier in 2026, private equity co-head Christopher Machera moved to Paul Weiss, capital markets partner Michael Hickey moved to Sullivan & Cromwell, London M&A partners David Avery-Gee and Sarah Flaherty moved to Sullivan & Cromwell, and a three-partner London restructuring team moved to Akin, Legal Business reported. Former restructuring head Ray Schrock left for Latham & Watkins in early 2025.
Zero US high-value M&A rankings after exits from its highest-value practices
The losses are in the practices that built Weil's economics: high-value M&A, private equity, restructuring, capital markets and securities litigation, according to Legal Business. The publication reported that the firm now holds no individual US rankings in high-value M&A and has lost roughly a third of its leading US high-value private equity partners. Bloomberg Law reported that Aiello's departure is expected to leave gaps in M&A, with effects on tax and regulatory teams, as incoming executive chair Ramona Nee prepares to take over on 1 January 2027.
Weil has tried to respond by rehiring Peter Feist from Cravath as US co-head of private equity and bringing back Debra Sinclair, who had moved to Willkie, Above the Law reported. The firms hiring its partners are direct competitors: Cravath, Paul Weiss, Sullivan & Cromwell, Simpson Thacher, Latham & Watkins, Wilson Sonsini and Akin have all hired departing Weil partners across 2025 and 2026, Above the Law reported.
HSF Kramer and A&O Shearman frame the consolidation backdrop
The merger search comes as firms pursue greater scale. Herbert Smith Freehills and Kramer Levin completed a transatlantic merger on 1 June 2025 as HSF Kramer, a top-20 global firm with over $2bn in revenue, 2,700 lawyers and about 630 partners across 26 offices, The Global Legal Post reported. That followed A&O Shearman's combination of Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling, Above the Law noted. Law360 Pulse described Weil's position as a binary choice for mid-sized elite firms: a leaner footprint or a merger.
The facts describe a firm with strong economics losing partners in its highest-value practices to its closest rivals. Weil is now negotiating a merger while using lateral hires to replace some of those who have left. The Dewey & LeBoeuf comparison depends on whether the merger closes before the departures compound. Current reporting does not answer that question.
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