Weil Gotshal & Manges, a Wall Street firm since 1931, moves to wind down operations

A firm moving to wind down

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a New York law firm that has been part of Wall Street since 1931, is preparing to close. Axios reported on 29 October 2026 that firm leadership is recommending the wind-down, which still has to be voted on by the full partnership. Bloomberg Business, writing the same day, described the firm as having decided to wind down operations. LesEchos reported that the firm plans to support its lawyers until the end of the year.

How the firm lost ground

Axios, citing the Wall Street Journal, traces the crisis back more than a decade. The firm profited from the disorder that followed the 2008-09 financial crisis, but it did not reinvest those gains and cut lawyers while rivals were expanding. That left it behind industry leaders in head count, revenue and profit, and exposed to poaching by rival firms. According to LSEG, Weil ranked No. 9 among global deal advisors in 2022, but by last year it had fallen outside the top 25.

Staff, revenue and France

Axios puts the firm at around 2,000 employees worldwide, including about 1,200 attorneys, some of them first-year associates who had only just joined. LesEchos gives a lawyer count of 1,200, with 80 of them based in France. Axios reported that revenue reached around $2 billion in 2025, double the level of a decade earlier but well behind top peers. Axios also warned that a law firm's most valuable assets leave the office each night, so rival poaching can set off something close to a run on a bank.

Reactions and legacy

Weil was long a leading name in corporate restructuring, and Le Monde recalled that its advisers were the first call for struggling clients when General Motors filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Bloomberg Business noted that the firm's restructuring experts once advised on the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The same outlet argued that the implosion shows lawyers are becoming the new bankers, with large pay packages and the risk of bank-run-style departures. LesEchos carried comments from former lawyer Emeric Lepoutre, who described the collapse as a double crisis of governance and business model.