Weil Gotshal Eyes Wind-Down; Recruiter Offers Staff a Playbook
Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a U.S. law firm with more than 90 years of history, has told its partners it should close. The firm's Management Committee recommended an "orderly wind-down" after what it called a careful review of strategic alternatives, according to a statement the firm gave CNBC on Wednesday. Partners are expected to vote in the coming days.
The firm is a top-20 U.S. practice that reportedly had more than $2 billion in revenue in 2025. Reuters reported that staff would receive 90 days of pay.
Danielle Thompson, a Bay Area legal recruiter and former big law employment lawyer, used the moment to write advice for the roughly 1,200 Weil lawyers and the non-lawyer staff. She is a managing director at Damato Search Group. Her view is that Weil is an anomaly, but that similar collapses do happen, as Lehman Brothers, Silicon Valley Bank and FTX showed.
Start looking now
Thompson says many associates are in a holding pattern. Some wait to see where their favorite partners land. Others read the 90 days of pay as 90 days to start a search.
She advises searching independently in the meantime. Partners are under no obligation to take associates along, and associates have no say in where partners go. The market, she says, is already crowded with Weil associates and with lawyers who wanted a lateral move anyway.
Guard your résumé
Thompson warns that some legal recruiters treat a sent résumé as blanket consent to submit it anywhere. She says that if more than one recruiter sends the same materials to a firm, that firm is unlikely to respond again, because it sees the move as sloppy and expects a fight over who is entitled to the placement fee. Her advice is to know which companies hold your résumé and who sent it, and to pick one reputable recruiter through referrals and intro calls with several.
Non-lawyers face a less cutthroat field, she says, but should still stick to trusted contacts, such as verifiable HR professionals, colleagues, college career services and known job boards.
She also tells job seekers not to fret over a short gap or several quick moves. Prospective employers will understand why a Weil alum is out of work, she says, but she puts that goodwill at one to six months. She cites Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that, as of September, 27.1% of unemployed people had been searching for more than six months.
Thompson says offers taken in haste or under pressure are more likely to be a mismatch. She adds that taking a job out of necessity is fine, since people have bills to pay, and that moving on again quickly is acceptable. Her last point is to be kind to yourself and to help others still searching.
Source: CNBC