Merger discussions between Weil and Willkie Farr & Gallagher have ended, with partners at Willkie understood to have been told in the last 24 hours that talks were off.
The news leaves Weil still actively looking for a tie-up, after it told partners in a firmwide meeting on Tuesday (20 October) that it was in merger discussions, without naming the other firm. Bloomberg Law first broke the news of the discussions ending.
Speculation about Weil’s potential merger partner has been mounting in recent weeks. In addition to Willkie, other names linked with the firm include Texas-headquartered Vinson & Elkins, while Skadden, Cleary and Linklaters have all denied merger talks.
Weil has lost a number of senior partners in recent weeks as the rumours have grown, most notably across its New York and London offices, with more senior partners also expected to leave.
Weil’s co-head of private equity, Christopher Machera, headed to Paul Weiss this August in New York, followed by a further five partners, while corporate department chair Michael Aiello left for Cravath as part of a six-partner M&A team in September.
Most recently, it emerged that capital markets partner Michael Hickey is set to move to Sullivan & Cromwell in New York.
Hickey is the former co-managing partner of the corporate department and co-head of the capital markets team at Weil. The move follows the recent departures to S&C in London of City co-managing partner David Avery-Gee and fellow M&A partner Sarah Flaherty.
Alongside talking to other firms, Weil has made moves to rebuild, hiring a number of PE partners in the US, Germany and London.
Weil hired two Freshfields PE partners in the last few weeks, Rebecca Ward in London and Olga Stürmer in Frankfurt.
In the US, Weil also rehired banking and finance partner Damian Ridelagh in New York, who also moved from Freshfields, as well as San Francisco PE partners Michael Hanna and Jonathan Stott, who joined from Kirkland & Ellis and Dechert respectively.
