Law firm that handled Lehman, Enron bankruptcies plans to wind down

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Leaders at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the nearly century-old law firm that worked for companies from the Lehman Brothers to General Motors, recommended on Wednesday that the firm shut down.

“Following a careful review of strategic alternatives, the Firm’s Management Committee has recommended to the partnership that the Firm pursue an orderly wind-down,” a Weil spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday.

The firm’s partners are expected to vote on the recommendation “in the coming days,” according to the statement. Equity partners hold stakes in law firms and can vote on company matters.

For over 90 years, the law firm was well-known through Wall Street for steering high-profile corporate litigation such as bankruptcies and mergers. Weil advised the Lehman Brothers during the 2008 financial crisis, and the firm claims it brought General Motors out of bankruptcy in “just 40 days.”

The firm said it guided debtors such as Enron, whose 2001 bankruptcy filing was the largest in American history at the time. It also advised Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard as well as AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV .

The firm had been mired by an exodus of prominent partners, largely driven by competition from rivals, legal news outlet Law.com earlier reported . And a potential merger with another law firm, Willkie Farr, fell through this year.

Weil is announcing its closure without filing for bankruptcy.

The news sent shockwaves through the Big Law industry, which has been going through its own changes. Big mergers and acquisitions have led to more competition for top talent – and then there’s the looming dread of artificial intelligence.

Weil was founded in 1931 and employs approximately 1,200 lawyers in offices from New York to Munich to Hong Kong, according to its website. The firm did not announce plans for its employees or office spaces on Wednesday.

安德鲁·凯利/路透社

拥有近百年历史的律师事务所 Weil, Gotshal & Manges 的领导层周三建议该事务所关闭。该事务所曾为从雷曼兄弟到通用汽车等公司提供法律服务。

Weil 的一位发言人周三在一份声明中表示：“经过对各种战略选择的仔细审查，公司管理委员会已建议合伙人公司有序地逐步解散。”

声明称，该律所的合伙人预计将在“未来几天”对该建议进行投票表决。权益合伙人持有律所股份，并有权就公司事务进行投票。

90多年来，这家律师事务所因代理破产和并购等备受瞩目的公司诉讼而闻名华尔街。在2008年金融危机期间，威尔律师事务所曾为雷曼兄弟公司提供咨询服务，并声称其仅用了“40天”就帮助通用汽车公司摆脱了破产困境。

该公司表示，它曾为安然公司等债务人提供咨询服务，安然公司2001年的破产申请是当时美国历史上规模最大的破产案。该公司还曾为微软以687亿美元收购动视暴雪以及AT&T收购DirecTV提供咨询服务。

据法律新闻网站Law.com此前报道，这家律所因众多知名合伙人的离职而陷入困境，这主要是由于竞争对手的压力所致。此外，今年与另一家律所Willkie Farr的潜在合并也告吹。

Weil公司宣布关闭，但并未申请破产。

这一消息在大型律师事务所行业引起了巨大震动，该行业本身也在经历变革。大型并购导致对顶尖人才的竞争更加激烈——此外，人工智能的阴影也挥之不去。

据其官网显示，Weil律师事务所成立于1931年，在纽约、慕尼黑、香港等地设有办公室，拥有约1200名律师。该事务所周三并未公布有关员工或办公场所的计划。