Why it matters
Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the New York firm founded in 1931, has recommended dissolving, according to an internal announcement from its leadership on October 28, 2026. The firm's leaders cited a flood of rainmaker departures to rival firms and merger talks with New York's Willkie Farr & Gallagher that fell apart. The unraveling began in September, when M&A leader Michael Aiello, the firm's most prominent rainmaker, announced he was moving to Cravath with five transactional partners. Private-equity leaders Christopher Machera and Brian Parness also left. The Financial Times estimated that teams tied to those three partners generated $200 million to $250 million in annual revenue. Leadership told partners on October 19 that it was pursuing a merger, and by late October Legal Business had counted more than fifty partners who had left or announced departures in 2026. Separately, SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein is appealing his federal conviction on tax evasion, false tax return, unpaid tax, and false loan application counts. A jury convicted him on February 25, 2026, and he was sentenced to six years in prison in July. His lawyers filed the appeal on September 10, asking the Fourth Circuit to vacate the conviction and order a new trial. On the California front, the Justice Department has subpoenaed local election officials in at least four counties in a voter-fraud investigation, and a Los Angeles County letter identifies Homeland Security Investigations as the agency running the criminal probe.
Several points remain open. The dissolution is a recommendation, and the firm has not yet reported a final vote or a wind-down timeline. The reasons for the failed Willkie talks are not public. In Goldstein's case, the government conceded in an October 27 filing that it conflated two subsections of statutory language in the jury instructions, calling it a common mistake, but it still argues the instructions were not erroneous. The Fourth Circuit has not ruled on the appeal. In California, the DOJ's October 15 lawsuit accuses the state of keeping more than 20,000 likely noncitizens on its voter rolls. On October 28, U.S. District Judge David Carter warned Justice Department officials to stop threatening election workers with criminal prosecution over voter records. An appeals court rejected the DOJ's emergency request, warning of "potentially catastrophic effects on the entire system." Whether the grand jury process produces charges is unknown.
For attorneys, the Weil collapse is already pushing a surge of lawyers onto the job market, which Bloomberg Law reports, so expect laterals and rival firms to be aggressive in hiring and in partner recruiting. Watch the Fourth Circuit docket in Goldstein's appeal, where the government's concession on the jury instructions will be central. In California, witnesses are called to testify before a grand jury on November 4, the day after the midterm election, so any charging decision or further court fight over the subpoenas could come quickly.
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