The prominent law firm has been rocked by an exodus of high-profile lawyers, a failed succession plan and a scuttled deal to merge with a rival firm.

By Lauren Hirsch

Oct. 28, 2026

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, one of Wall Street’s most prominent law firms, is preparing to wind down its operations after nearly a century of advising some of America’s largest corporations, a stunning collapse that reflects changes roiling the legal industry.

In a statement, Weil said that its senior leadership team had recommended to dissolve the firm after a “careful review of alternatives” and that the firm’s partners would vote on the matter in the coming days.

Weil’s dissolution would be a dramatic downfall for one America’s most prominent white shoe law firms, delivering a painful blow to the firm’s 2,000 employees, including its roughly 1,200 lawyers, who will have to find work elsewhere.

Weil in recent weeks hired advisers from the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell to help it with a range of options, which this week turned to discussions about the possibility of winding down the firm.

Weil said it would continue serving clients during the process, which would take place over the coming months.

Once one of the most sought after firms for top lawyers, Weil Gotshal has been rocked by an exodus of partners, including the chair of its global corporate practice. It has also been hurt by a failed succession plan for the firm’s next leader and a scuttled deal to merge with its rival Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

While other options had been on the table, including a possible rescue deal, the situation had become increasingly urgent as more lawyers prepared to leave, according to two people with knowledge of internal discussions.

The firm’s chair, Barry Wolf, informed the firm’s legal staff and partners about the recommendation to dissolve Weil in a series of emotional Zoom calls on Wednesday afternoon. He outlined the challenges that had been facing the firm, including a raft of partner defections. Mr. Wolf said that modeling a number of different paths forward made it clear there was no scenario that would allow the firm to remain viable, according to a person who listened in.

Mr. Wolf called the decision “painful” and said the firm’s highest priority would be taking care of the firm’s associates and staff.

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The announcement capped a week of increasing uncertainty and continued defections that rattled the corridors of firm’s headquarters in the General Motors building on Fifth Avenue. For incoming associates, it was jarring entry into the world of Big Law: Many had started their jobs in recent weeks. For longtime lawyers, it was a bitter end to a firm that once seemed invincible; several of them were in tears on Wednesday, one of the firm’s lawyers said.

The firm’s struggles reflect the broader changes sweeping through Big Law in recent years, in which the largest firms are sucking up talent and business. While firms once functioned as true partnerships centered on loyalty, they are now run more like sprawling businesses, trying to maximize profits by dominating every corner of the legal business from dealmaking and private capital to litigation.

Weil Gotshal was once the marquee firm for bankruptcy advice but has more recently had difficulty competing with giant law firms that can poach talent with lavish pay packages.

Amid these pressures, Weil has also struggled to determine the firm’s future leadership. Ramona Nee, its co-head of private equity, had been expected to succeed Mr. Wolf, who is preparing to retire. But in August, Ms. Nee told the firm’s management that she would turn down the top role, the two people said. Many partners learned of Ms. Nee’s decision this week.

The uncertainty had been weighing on the law firm’s lawyers, many of whom have been sending out a deluge of résumés over the past few days, according to three people with knowledge of the firm’s internal workings. At law firms, whose primary assets are its employees, downward spirals can happen fast: Once key partners lose confidence and start leaving, it can be near impossible to persuade them and other lawyers to stay.

Rivals had already been circling, scouring for lawyers they can pick up in the frenzy, two people familiar with the matter said.

Similar spirals have befallen major law firms before. At their worst, they have driven them into bankruptcy, as was the case with Dewey & LeBoeuf in 2012.

Weil had been trying to solidify a path forward through merger talks with Willkie, which would have given it combined might to compete against larger peers, the people said. But those talks recently fell through, igniting a series of meetings among the firm’s management committee to find another solution. Those meetings continued into Wednesday.

Spokespeople for Weil and Willkie did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Davis Polk confirmed that Weil had hired Neil Barr, its chair who advises on mergers, and Brian Resnick, a partner in its restructuring practice.

Weil Gotshal was founded in 1931 by Frank L. Weil, Sylvan Gotshal and Horace S. Manges. Three decades later, Harvey Miller helped the firm climb the ranks to the uppermost echelons for firms by focusing on bankruptcy and restructuring, practices that rivals had historically shunned.

The bet proved lucrative as the firm went on to advise on the collapses of Drexel Burnham Lambert, Texaco and the Macy’s department store chain with hard-nosed tactics that earned it the nickname “We’ll Getcha & Mangle Ya.” The firm rode that expertise through the financial crisis, notching more than a billion in fees in 2009, advising the likes of Lehman Brothers and General Motors.

But as the country emerged from the depths of the recession, Weil Gotshal’s restructuring prowess alone was no longer enough to keep it competitive. The Chicago law firm Kirkland & Ellis led the way in running a firm like a big business.

Weil was outpaced. The firm’s revenue grew from little over $1 billion in 2015 to a little over $2 billion this year. Kirkland & Ellis’s revenue ballooned from roughly $2 billion to a little over $10 billion.

“They just were sort of treading water,” Bruce MacEwen, a lawyer and consultant to law firms, said of Weil.

Some smaller firms responded to the emergence of these giants by prioritizing niche specialties. But specialization, Mr. MacEwen said, also frequently requires significant layoffs, a path that longtime firm leaders, like Weil’s Mr. Wolf, are not often keen to do.

That left Weil vulnerable to poaching. Among the top partners the firm has lost over the past several years: Ray Schrock, who was a co-chair of its bankruptcy practice; Michael Aiello, the chair of its global corporate practice; and Christopher Machera, a co-head of Weil’s U.S. private equity practice.

Weil’s collapse raises questions at other law firms that have struggled to compete against the rise of big law firms, like Kirkland, Latham & Watkins and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, that overwhelm rivals with vast resources and lofty paychecks.

Often the largest or most profitable firms have turned to rivals just a rung or two below them to poach partners with lucrative practices. Weil was the 15th-most-profitable firm in the country on a per-partner basis in 2024, according to Law.com, suggesting that few firms may be safe from a Weil-like stampede for the exits.

Some firms have merged to adapt to the new normal. Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft combined this year, making it the largest law firm to date.

But while merger speculation has reached fever pitch over the past year, lawyers involved in these talks caution that they can be difficult to execute, given how a different culture develops at each firm.

The industry transformation underlined by Weil’s collapse is one that Mr. Miller, its former leader, called out in an interview in 2012. (Mr. Miller died in 2015.)

The legal landscape is “dominated by mammoth international firms” Mr. Miller said, resulting in a “more sharply competitive marketplace.”

“Client loyalties have subsided,” he added.

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