Power Points -Firm Prospects tracked nearly 16,000 moves in and out of the Am Law 200 in the first half of 2026. The headline number is small. What it tells you is not. For as long as anyone can remember, the BigLaw associate’s exit menu has been short and predictable, namely move to another firm,
Harvey Comes Calling As BigLaw Associates Trade the Billable Hour for “Legal Engineer” Read More »
Quinn Emanuel tops BTI’s most feared litigation list for the fifth straight year. The top sixteen firms haven’t budged. The only real movement is further down, where some “Awesome” firms are quietly being reclassified as merely “Intimidating.” A particular kind of silence falls over a general counsel’s office when the other side’s notice of appearance
The Fearsome Foursome Is Back. It’s the Same Four. Again. Read More »
Neel Sachdev is the best-paid finance lawyer in London, the most-discussed lateral hire of the decade, and possibly the only Big Law partner who has consulted an astrologer before hiring associates. He’s also been continuing to attract a lot of publicity lately.
Most partners at elite law firms prefer to be invisible outside a small circle of clients and headhunters. Neel Sachdev has taken a different approach. The Paul Weiss London co-head is the subject of a new Financial Times profile, and it may be the most entertaining piece of legal journalism this year.
The FT’s legal correspondent, Suzi Ring, met the 51-year-old lawyer in Portugal, where he has invested in a luxury property development on the site of a former orange grove in the Algarve. He did not arrive quietly, but rather in a red open-top 1977 Mercedes 450 SL, wearing a matching outfit, sunglasses and his trademark beaded bracelets.
The Consigliere in the Red Mercedes – Neel Sachdev, Big Law’s Leading Man Read More »
Power Points: Weil, Gotshal & Manges has spent three weeks losing partners and then on Friday it lost the one who mattered most. Michael Aiello, chairman of Weil’s 600-lawyer corporate department and the man colleagues routinely describe as the firm’s most powerful partner, has told Weil he is resigning. He is expected to surface at
The Original Boomerang Boomerangs Out: Mike Aiello Quits Weil for Cravath Read More »
Milbank announced its new associate salary scale on Tuesday 2 June and today is Thursday 10 September. That is one hundred days, to the day, and the largest and most profitable law firms in the United States have still not said what they intend to pay their associates. This is not how the associate pay
There is no causal link between the two events. That is precisely why they matter. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan had the sort of week that gets discussed at partner retreats for years, through gritted teeth and very painful memories. On Thursday 3 September, Reuters reported that Quinn Emanuel and McDermott Will & Schulte had
Hacked On Thursday, Disqualified On Friday: BigLaw’s Information Problem Gets A Face Read More »
A federal complaint filed in New Jersey has managed something most BigLaw disputes never do. It has put the partnership track’s least visible machinery, the allocation of supervisory credit, on a public court proceeding. Power Points: A Troutman Pepper Locke associate has sued the firm and two of its partners, alleging disability discrimination, interference with
The 3,000 Hour Associate: Inside The Troutman Pepper Locke Partnership Lawsuit Read More »
Power Point – Tony Buzbee’s latest River Oaks acquisition isn’t simply another trophy-home purchase. The Houston trial lawyer is assembling a two-acre estate by demolishing a 15,000-square-foot neighbouring mansion, while salvaging an estimated $4 million of its contents and building gardens in its place. It is an unusually vivid glimpse of the wealth generated at
The Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz litigation partner who played center stage in the Central Park viral video embracing a junior colleague is reportedly preparing to leave the firm. Nathaniel Cullerton remains employed by Wachtell and on leave, according to sources cited by the New York Post, but is said to be in the process
Wachtell Partner Exit Looms After Viral Central Park Canoodling Video Read More »
McKool Smith has confirmed it will match the current Milbank associate salary scale, with the new pay rates taking effect on 1 January 2027. The Texas-based complex trial firm, known for competitive associate compensation which have reported previously, that has included Thanksgiving bonuses, strong year-end payouts, and market-matching raises, is lifting base salaries by $10,000
Texas Trial Powerhouse McKool Smith Joins the Milbank Pay Scale (With a Delayed Start) Read More »
