The stunning collapse of Weil Gotshal & Manges sends the firm’s nearly 600 employees into the job market with career paths turned upside down once again.
The generation of lawyers looking for work includes a new class of first-year associates who started at Weil earlier this month, as well as more experienced attorneys who worked for years trying to become associates at what was one of America’s premier law firms. A Weil human resources manager said in an email to U.S. associates Friday that the company would use an internal job board to post jobs elsewhere.
“Everybody needs to focus on number one at this point,” said a partner at the firm, which is preparing to wind down its business after a series of partner departures and failed merger talks. “Everyone needs to find a new job.”
New job seekers are the kind of candidates that big firms are scrambling to recruit: Paul Weiss, Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, has hired a number of young lawyers from Weil, and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is reportedly close to recruiting a 40-person London private funds team, including several partners. But remaining associates are looking for landing spots in a recruiting market that has slowed due to economic uncertainty and concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on hiring demand.
It’s a “market flooded with many attorneys and legal industry staff who won’t be able to find replacement employment due to the sheer number of people in the market,” said Evan Goodman, a former Akin LLP attorney who started his own firm.
Large law firms hired 7.5% fewer new graduates last year, according to data released last month by the National Association for Law Placement. Overall associate recruiting increased, but remained well below the all-time highs seen in 2021 and 2022.
Weil announced plans Wednesday to wind down operations, marking the end of the road for a nearly century-old law firm that was once a corporate powerhouse in New York. The unnamed partner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, gathered with a group of young lawyers Wednesday for a firm-wide Zoom call in which executive partner Barry Wolf broke the news.
The associate said he had already been in contact with recruiters about possible moves and was inundated with more than 100 LinkedIn connection requests from headhunters in the two days following Wolf’s announcement. Weil’s alumni network was also helpful, the associate said. People also share job opportunities in a new informal group chat.
Still, they say the company’s rapid slowdown is a shock.
“I understand that Big Law is a very cutthroat environment, but the sheer level of greed combined with the lack of leadership from the firm’s leadership was truly disappointing,” the partner said. “There were people on the board who were committed to running the company no matter what, and instead of guiding the company through a very difficult time, they used their inside information to negotiate deals with other companies and often left associates behind,” they said.
“Healthy market”
These developments could saturate the market for associate jobs in New York, where about two-thirds of Weil’s young lawyers are based, said Summer Eberhard, a California-based legal recruiter at Lateral Link. But fears of a market flood are unlikely to spread more widely.
“Weil associates have always been highly sought after because of their credentials and sophisticated experience, and I don’t see that changing,” Eberhard said. At least some Weil associates will have the opportunity to follow partners they work closely with into new ventures, she said.
The company’s collapse is expected to spark a bidding war to attract high-end partners, particularly those from Weil’s vaunted bankruptcy group. Ramona Nee, the private equity lawyer who was previously tapped to take over Wolf’s role at the helm of the firm, is in talks to join Kirkland & Ellis with 40 or more of her colleagues.
Lawyers with a large book of cases can get new jobs at pay levels that fill gaps caused by the firm’s dissolution, Goodman said. Weil’s hundreds of lawyers and staff may not be so lucky, he said.
Weil partners and staff were told they would receive salary and benefits for 90 days and that those employees would be eligible for bonuses if they remained with the company through the end of the year. The company did not specify the amount of bonuses put on the table.
Blair Broser, a recruiter at Momentum Search Group, said she has heard from more than a half-dozen of the 50 largest U.S. companies inquiring about Weil’s associates. About a dozen associates have asked for help finding new businesses, Broser said.
“The associates are in a difficult position.” » said Broser. “They have no leverage at the moment.”
—With reporting by Justin Henry
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