Global Legal Post publishes Edwards Gibson analysis of Weil’s proposed wind-down

Global Legal Post has published an article by Scott Gibson, director at Edwards Gibson, examining how the proposed wind-down of Weil Gotshal & Manges illustrates a structural vulnerability at the heart of modern Big Law.

“Live by the lateral, die by the lateral: How Weil was pulled apart by Big Law’s star culture” looks at how the rise of highly paid private-capital rainmakers, increasingly portable client relationships and an exceptionally liquid lateral market have weakened traditional partnership cohesion. It argues that once a run on a partnership begins, leaving can become the rational decision for individual partners, even where the underlying firm remains highly profitable.

The article builds on Edwards Gibson’s earlier “Big Law Jenga” analysis, which warned that the same forces driving extraordinary profitability and lateral hiring among elite US firms were also making those partnerships more vulnerable to sudden destabilisation.

Read the full article here