Cravath Lands Six Weil Partners in High-Profile M&A Team Hire

Aiello will move to Cravath alongside Matthew Gilroy, Eoghan Keenan, Amanda Fenster, Michelle Sargent and Megan Pendleton, according to Reuters, which reported the planned departures on Sept. 11.

The group represents a significant addition for Cravath and another setback for Weil, which has experienced a series of senior partner departures in recent weeks. Aiello chaired Weil’s roughly 600-lawyer corporate department, while Gilroy served as a co-leader of the firm’s M&A practice, Reuters reported.

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Aiello has advised major companies and financial institutions including Dow Chemical, Goldman Sachs and Sanofi, according to the Reuters report. His move gives Cravath an established corporate adviser with relationships spanning some of the world’s largest companies.

Cravath presiding partner Faiza Saeed described Aiello and the other incoming lawyers as highly accomplished M&A advisers whose approach fits the firm’s culture, according to a statement cited by Reuters.

Weil, meanwhile, thanked the departing lawyers for their work at the firm and said it plans to move more quickly on an ambitious growth strategy, according to the statement provided to Reuters.

Partner Market Heats Up

The six-partner move comes during an unusually active period for lateral hiring at the upper end of the US legal market, where firms are competing for lawyers capable of bringing major corporate, private-equity and financial clients with them.

Weil has recently lost several other senior lawyers. Chris Machera, co-head of its private-equity group, moved to Paul Weiss, while Stephanie Srulowitz, a co-head of Weil’s US private-funds group, joined Simpson Thacher. Daniel Stein, who co-led Weil’s global white-collar defense practice, moved to Freshfields, according to Reuters.

Source: Reuters