Financial News features Edwards Gibson commentary on Big Law’s star culture

Financial News has featured commentary from Scott Gibson, director at Edwards Gibson, in an analysis of how Weil Gotshal & Manges’ collapse is prompting rival law firms to examine their reliance on star partners and highly portable rainmakers.

The article “After Weil’s collapse, rivals weigh the risks of star culture”, written by Zoe Hu, examines how increasingly aggressive lateral hiring and escalating remuneration have changed the traditional partnership model and potentially left firms more vulnerable to sudden departures.

Gibson argues that the lateral hiring frenzy has “come at the price of weakened partnership cohesion” and made firms’ structures “more fragile than they were before”, adding:

“The more successful elite firms have become at breaking down the old cultural barriers that kept rainmakers at their home firms, the less they can expect those same barriers to protect their own partners.”

Read the full Financial News article here (paywalled)