Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Headquarters New York City
No. of offices 20
No. of attorneys 1,200
Major practice areas International Arbitration, Bankruptcy, Intellectual Property, Capital Markets, Finance, and Mergers & Acquisitions
Revenue $1.2 billion (2007)
Date founded 1931 (New York)
Company type LLP
Website
www.weil.com

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is a prominent international law firm, one of the largest and most prestigious in the world with 1,200 lawyers and gross annual revenue in excess of $1.1 billion.[1][2] The firm was founded in New York City in 1931 by Frank Weil, Sylvan Gotshal, and Horace Manges. In 1968, Weil Gotshal moved to its current New York headquarters in the GM building overlooking Central Park.

Contents

History & Expansion

After its founding in 1931 Weil, Gotshal & Manges grew steadily in the following decades. By 1950 the firm numbered 19 lawyers, placing it first among New York’s “Jewish” law firms. As the ethnic distinctions among the city’s law firms disappeared in the last quarter of the 20th century, Weil continued to grow, establishing a client base that included some of the U.S.’s top corporations – including General Electric and General Motors – and positioning the firm among the largest in the country. In 1975 the firm opened an office in Washington, D.C., its first outside of New York, and this was followed in the 1980s by locations in Miami, Houston, and Dallas.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent move by Central and Eastern European countries toward market-based economies prompted Weil to launch its international expansion. The firm established offices in Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw in the early 1990s, and these openings were quickly followed by the establishment of offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Munich. In the 21st century the firm’s international expansion has focused on Asia, where Weil has launched offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Dubai. One-quarter of the firm’s lawyers now practice outside of the U.S. The firm now has 20 offices worldwide.

Recognition

The firm is rated as one of the top law firms by Vault.com. Chambers and Partners gives the firm high marks in the following practice areas: Bankruptcy, Corporate, Litigation, M&A, Private Equity:Buyouts, Investment Funds:Fund Formation, Financial Services Regulation, Intellectual Property, Antitrust, Patent Litigation, Labor and Employment, Securities Litigation, Entertainment Litigation, and Tax.

Financial Crisis of 2008-09

Like many large law firms with successful transactional law practices, Weil was adversely impacted by the recent financial crisis. The presence of the firm’s Restructuring Department – routinely considered one of the strongest in the world – helped to offset the diminished deal flow during the crisis as the firm posted relatively flat revenues during that time. It also helped the firm avoid major layoffs. Weil opted instead to introduce an incoming associate deferral program for 2009 and 2010, which delayed the starting dates of new associates for roughly a year and compensated the deferred associates with a stipend. [3]

Key People

Notable Deals and Cases

Footnotes

  1. ^ 2005 The National Law Journal 250 from law.com (free registration required).
  2. ^ The Billion-Dollar Club Expands
  3. ^ http://abovethelaw.com/2009/03/weil_gotshal_deferral_dollars.php
  4. ^ Rosen, Ellen (2007-03-09). "A Lawyer Finds He Can Go Home Again". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/business/09law.html. 
  5. ^ Layne, Rachel; Cronin, Sean (May 21, 2007), "Saudi Basic to Buy GE Plastics Unit for $11.6 Billion", Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a1VdEW0lgM40&refer=home 
  6. ^ Nolter, Chris (May 15, 2009), "Malone's fancy turns to tax-free spinoffs", The Deal, http://www.thedeal.com/magazine/ID/026739/dealmakers/malones-fancy-turns-to-tax-fre.php 
  7. ^ Nicholson, Chris V. (February 16, 2011), "Sanofi Agrees to Buy Genzyme for $20.1 Billion", The New York Times, http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/sanofi-agrees-to-buy-genzyme-for-at-least-20-1-billion/ 
  8. ^ Shields, Todd; Bliss, Jeff (January 18, 2011), "Comcast Wins U.S. Approval to Buy NBC Universal From GE for $13.8 Billion", Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-18/comcast-nbc-universal-deal-said-to-be-near-u-s-fcc-approval.html 
  9. ^ Reagan, Gillian (June 12, 2010), "Dan Rather's $70 Million Lawsuit Against CBS Finally Dies", Reuters, http://www.businessinsider.com/dan-rathers-70-million-lawsuit-against-cbs-finally-dies-2010-1 
  10. ^ Jones, Ashby (April 1, 2010), "Second Circuit Rules for eBay in Counterfeit Goods Case", The Wall Street Journal, http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/04/01/second-circuit-rules-for-ebay-in-counterfeit-goods-case/ 
  11. ^ Glater, Jonathan D. (December 4, 2001), "ENRON'S COLLAPSE: THE LAWYERS; And the Winners in the Case Are", New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/04/business/enron-s-collapse-the-lawyers-and-the-winners-in-the-case-are.html?scp=2&sq=Enron%20Weil&st=cse 
  12. ^ Glater, Jonathan D. (December 13, 2008), "The Man Who Is Unwinding Lehman Brothers", New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/business/14miller.html 
  13. ^ Chasan, Emily (September 28, 2008), "WaMu files bankruptcy petition in Delaware", Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/09/28/afx5480077.html 
  14. ^ Sandler, Lisa (June 1, 2009), "GM Files Bankruptcy to Spin Off More Competitive Firm", Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aA_QjYuWXWzI 

External links