- U.S. & Americas
- Lateral moves
Kirkland & Ellis is close to hiring Ramona Nee, co-head of Weil, Gotshal & Manges' US private equity practice, along with a team of about 20 people, The American Lawyer reported on 3 November. Nee's group is considered one of the strongest remaining teams at Weil, and several Big Law firms are competing for it.
The discussions come as Weil winds down. On 28 October the firm's management committee recommended dissolution, Bloomberg Law reported. The firm was founded in 1931 and generated $2.1 billion in revenue last year. Merger talks with Willkie Farr & Gallagher collapsed after both sides signed an NDA. Weil now plans to wind down out of court over the coming months with restructuring adviser AlixPartners. Associates and staff are to receive 90 days of salary and benefits, plus year-end bonuses if they stay.
Nee declined Weil's top job in August before the dissolution vote
Nee is a New York and Boston private equity partner who spent nearly 25 years at Weil and advises Advent International and Providence Equity Partners, Bloomberg Law reported. Some accounts put the group she could bring at 40 or more professionals.
She was named Weil's incoming executive partner in March and was due to succeed longtime leader Barry Wolf in January 2027. In August, she told leadership she would decline the role amid partner departures, Bloomberg Law. Bloomberg Law reported she had, according to people familiar with the matter, held discussions with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett before pursuing Kirkland.
Weil partners move to Paul Weiss, Cravath, Davis Polk, Sidley and Quinn Emanuel
Nee's practice had already begun to break apart before the dissolution vote. Global co-head of private equity Doug Warner is set to join Paul, Weiss. He would be at least the 14th Weil leader to depart since the start of 2026, with three other partners following him to the firm's New York office, The Global Legal Post. Corporate department leader Michael Aiello left for Cravath in September. Bloomberg Law described his departure as one of the defections that triggered a run on the bank, Bloomberg Law.
Securities litigator Caroline Zalka is expected at Paul Weiss, appellate lawyer Drew Tulumello at Davis Polk and corporate co-managing partner Lyuba Goltser at Sidley Austin, Legal Business reported. Quinn Emanuel has hired top Weil litigator Adam Fee, lead defense counsel in the 2024 Bob Menendez trial and a former SDNY prosecutor, Bloomberg Law. Against those departures, the intact Nee group stands out as a high-performing PE unit that has not yet been divided among competitors, The American Lawyer reported.
Kirkland's $10.56bn year was built on the private equity work Nee does
Kirkland posted $10.56 billion in gross revenue in 2025, becoming the first firm to pass $10 billion. Profit per equity partner rose 20% to $11.1 million. The Global Legal Post attributed the growth to its private equity, restructuring and fund practices, The Global Legal Post reported. Nee co-heads the same type of work at Weil, focusing on buyouts financed with debt, minority investments and M&A, Bloomberg Law reported. A leading private equity group fits a firm whose record year was driven by those transactions.
Roughly 600 Weil associates enter a market that hired 7.5% fewer graduates
The competition for Weil's senior partners comes as the market below them gets harder. Roughly 600 Weil associates, two-thirds of them in New York, are looking for jobs after large firms hired 7.5% fewer new graduates last year, Bloomberg Law reported. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is also reported to be taking on a roughly 40-person London private funds team as part of the same unwinding.
Weil's strongest practices are being taken in by firms that already lead this work. Its private equity partners have gone to Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher, while its litigators have gone to Quinn Emanuel and Davis Polk. David Lat called the wind-down the most significant Big Law failure since Dewey & LeBoeuf's 2012 bankruptcy, Original Jurisdiction.
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