Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP is an American international
law firm with approximately 1,100 attorneys, headquartered in
New York City. With a gross annual revenue in excess of $1.8 billion, it is among the
world's largest law firms according to The American Lawyer's AmLaw 100 survey.[3][4]
After its founding in 1931, the firm grew steadily in the following decades, taking on clients including
General Electric and
General Motors, and becoming one of the largest law firms in the country.[6] In 1975, the firm opened an office in
Washington, D.C., its first outside New York City, followed in the 1980s by locations in
Miami,
Houston and
Dallas. In 1991, the year that the internet became publicly available, Weil was the first global, non-California law firm to open a Silicon Valley office, in
Redwood Shores,
California. Later, the firm further spread its practice, notably in non-contentious finance and private equity practice.[7]
The
fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent move by Central and Eastern European countries toward market-based economies prompted the firm to launch its international expansion. It established offices in
Budapest,
Prague and
Warsaw in the early 1990s, followed by the establishment of offices in
Frankfurt,
London,
Munich and
Paris. In the 21st century, the firm established offices in
Beijing,
Dubai,
Hong Kong, and
Shanghai. As of 2012[update], one-quarter of the firm's lawyers have practiced outside the U.S.
In November 2023, amid a wave of
antisemitic incidents at elite U.S. law schools, Weil, Gotshal & Manges was among a group of major law firms who sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences. The letter said "We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses."[8]
Notable cases
Olympus Corporation's,
Olympus scandal deal for British medical-equipment maker
Gyrus earned Weil an undisclosed portion of the extraordinary $687 million fee; the $2 billion acquisition was the largest in Olympus's history; the fee was shared with the deal's financial advisor and its broker. The auditor
KPMG refused to issue an unqualified audit report due to issues with the Gyrus deal, for which a 21-attorney Weil team was legal advisor[9]
^Sorkin, Andrew Ross; Mattu, Ravi; Warner, Bernhard; Kessler, Sarah; Merced, Michael J. de la; Hirsch, Lauren; Livni, Ephrat (November 2, 2023).
"Law Firms Warn Universities About Antisemitism on Campus". The New York Times. Retrieved November 2, 2023.