Maybe you don't want to know.
I am reminded, all too often, of the extraordinary fragility of our Institutions. Ninety-five years of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Lehman. Enron. General Motors. And here we are, debating partner capital-account deficiencies, unfunded wind-down obligations, and whether the latest round of lateral departures constitutes a de facto liquidation notwithstanding the rather carefully cultivated distinction between dissolution and insolvency.
The unfinished-business doctrine has become particularly amusing. Thelen and Coudert largely disposed of the New York Jewel theory as applied to hourly matters, although this does not magically resolve contingent fees, outstanding WIP realization, or the allocation of post-dissolution collections. Nor does a partner's book of originations represent a transferable proprietary interest in the underlying Clients. One would think the distinction familiar to Attorneys.
Yes, a Bankruptcy firm going bankrupt. Ha ha. I've heard it a hundred times. Technically no petition has been filed. No automatic stay. No Section 365 assumption or rejection analysis. Just the increasingly unpleasant arithmetic of partnership capital, contingent liabilities, and receivables that apparently everyone assumed somebody else would collect.
This was once, by some estimates, the greatest Firm in the entire world. Now look at us.
The mood? Curious. There are partners who have retained independent counsel to advise them concerning communications with other partners who have themselves retained independent counsel. Someone raised an issue under Rule 1.7(a)(2), and we have since descended into an increasingly elaborate examination of imputed disqualification, advance waivers, joint-client privilege, and whether the management committee possessed authority to consent on behalf of an entity whose continued existence is itself becoming a matter of some jurisprudential delicacy. There are ethical walls within ethical walls. Certain individuals can no longer be copied on correspondence concerning matters they originated. A litigation hold has been circulated regarding communications about a previous litigation hold. Nobody remembers who instructed outside counsel, although the engagement letter apparently exists. Somewhere. The DMS permissions have become rather peculiar. A partner attempted to access a document he drafted in 2019 and was advised that he lacked the requisite authorization. The administrator who might have restored it departed on Tuesday. One hears things about the tail coverage. Nobody will discuss the tail coverage. The elevators still work, although several floors have become extraordinarily quiet. Everyone remains impeccably courteous. I have never encountered such courtesy among Attorneys. If only you all knew.
There is a theory circulating btw that this is simply what happens when you attempt to hand an Institution over to Gen X. No offense to the Gen X service partners and Of Counsel itt, but I have long harbored certain reservations concerning your generation's capacity for institutional stewardship. Sorry, not sorry. Extraordinary technical proficiency, certainly. But Rainmaking? Franchise preservation? The delicate business of convincing a Fortune 100 general counsel that his existential litigation exposure ought to remain in your hands? Apparently rather more difficult than reviewing a privilege log. At least as Weil Super Senior Associates you aren't going to pound a Learjet into the ground. The consequences of your particular deficiencies are generally confined to the partnership's residual equity. Clients noticed, of course. They observed the Gen X partners who had somehow survived the lateral diligence, conflicts clearance, and compensation committee, and quietly took their Business elsewhere. One supposes somebody concluded that the most impoverished generation in modern American history would possess a natural aptitude for Bankruptcy. Yes. Declaring it, perhaps. Not Practicing it. And certainly not Rainmaking. Seven figures in annual compensation and an astonishing inability to maintain the very relationships supporting it. I don't blame the Clients.
The State of Weil Is Grim, and there is little Reprieve to be seen. Even Gaming is in a State of Decay. This whole situation reminds me of the State of Gaming, btw. BioWare, The Coalition, Halo Studios, Bungie, Ubisoft. All torn asunder. Nintendo is making incredibly few games. Feels like the end of an era. Todd has lost all control, and he's Gen X btw. An entire generation of institutional stewards presiding over the gradual liquidation of their respective franchises. But I digress.
My net worth remains approximately $8,990,000k. I appreciate the outpouring of sympathy from internet Lawyers, particularly those from lower-ranked institutions. Journalists, please stop PMing me.
At least the Ocarina of Time Remake comes out tomorrow.