Key Facts
- The Move: Sullivan & Cromwell has hired Weil, Gotshal & Manges London co-managing partner and corporate dealmaker David Avery-Gee, alongside partner Sarah Flaherty.
- The New Role: Avery-Gee becomes co-head of European M&A at S&C, steering the firm’s continental and UK transactional practice alongside Paris partner Olivier de Vilmorin.
- The S&C–Weil Well: The hires follow a well-trodden lateral path between the two City offices, including the landmark move of former Weil London chief Mike Francies and a trio of senior banking partners.
- The Wider Context: The exits add to a relentless transatlantic “run rate” of partner defections for Weil across London and New York ahead of its planned leadership handover.
Sullivan & Cromwell has once again struck at the heart of Weil Gotshal’s London leadership, securing top corporate heavyweights David Avery-Gee and Sarah Flaherty in another high-profile City raid.
Avery-Gee, who co-managed Weil’s London hub and led its corporate and M&A bench, will step in as co-head of European M&A for S&C alongside Paris-based partner Olivier de Vilmorin.
Both Avery-Gee and Flaherty are long-standing City dealmakers who originally joined Weil from Linklaters and bring substantial transactional firepower to S&C’s European offering.
The raid cements S&C’s continued appetite for Weil’s top tier of City talent. The firm famously recruited former Weil London managing partner Mike Francies, followed quickly by leveraged finance partners Chris McLaughlin, Alastair McVeigh, and Jenny Choi, who joined the firm in March following a separate raid.
The Attrition ‘Run Rate’ at Weil
While lateral mobility among elite City shops is constant, the pace and seniority of departures from Weil over the past year have drawn intense scrutiny across the London and New York legal markets.
London Outflows: The loss of Avery-Gee and Flaherty follows the exit of prominent London M&A partner Murray Cox to Simpson Thacher and a marquee three-partner restructuring defection to Akin led by Neil Devaney. While Weil has responded with strategic hires—including leveraged finance lateral James Crooks (Sidley) and secondaries partner Charles Cooper-Isow (Kirkland & Ellis)—the net talent balance sheet shows significant rainmaking power leaving 110 Fetter Lane.
The New York Quake: The City attrition mirrors an even sharper jolt in Manhattan, headlined by Cravath’s unprecedented hire of Michael Aiello, (pictured) chair of Weil’s 600-lawyer corporate department and a reported $20M+ biller, who took a five-partner M&A squad with him. Additional exits have seen private equity and funds partners depart for Paul Weiss and Simpson Thacher.
The Squeeze: The heightened run rate comes at a sensitive juncture for the firm as it readies for a generational changing of the guard, with Boston partner Ramona Nee set to take the reins from veteran executive partner Barry Wolf. In an era where modified locksteps and aggressive nine-figure equity pools have rewritten Big Law recruiting rules, holding onto marquee dealmakers has become the primary battleground.
