Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Name	Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Founded	1931
Founders	Frank Weil; Sylvan Gotshal; Horace Manges
Headquarters	New York City
Num offices	22 (approx.)
Num attorneys	1,100 (approx.)
Practice areas	Litigation; Corporate; Restructuring; Finance; Tax; Intellectual Property
Key people	Barry M. Wolf; Walter D. Werb; Samuel T. Haskell III
Revenue	(private)
Slogan	(none)

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an international corporate law firm founded in 1931 by Frank Weil, Sylvan Gotshal, and Horace Manges. The firm is known for complex bankruptcy and restructuring work, high‑value mergers and acquisitions, and representation of major financial institutions, corporations, and sovereign clients. Weil has played roles in landmark matters across United States federal courts, international arbitration panels, and cross‑border transactions involving leading companies and governments.

History

Founded during the Great Depression by lawyers trained in New York judicial and corporate practice, the firm expanded through the mid‑20th century handling work for clients associated with Wall Street firms and industrial conglomerates. Weil attorneys participated in matters before the United States Supreme Court, appeared in circuits such as the Second Circuit, and were involved in regulatory disputes with agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve Board. Through the 1970s and 1980s Weil developed practices handling securities fraud litigation around corporations like Enron and WorldCom and advised on cross‑border mergers and acquisitions involving companies such as General Electric, AT&T, and IBM. In the 1990s and 2000s Weil expanded globally with offices in financial centers like London, Hong Kong, and Frankfurt, representing clients in matters touching European Union competition law, Bank of America debt restructurings, and sovereign debt negotiations with countries such as Iceland following the 2008 financial crisis. Recent decades saw the firm advise on complex insolvencies, high‑stakes litigation against multinationals like Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, and regulatory responses involving agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Practice areas and services

Weil maintains practices in bankruptcy and restructuring, litigation, corporate transactions, capital markets, tax, intellectual property, employment, antitrust, and real estate. The firm routinely structures leveraged buyouts for private equity sponsors including The Carlyle Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Blackstone Group; advises on initial public offerings for issuers working with exchanges such as New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq; and counsels banks including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley on syndicated loans and asset‑based financings. Weil’s litigation teams handle securities cases under statutes like the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, represent clients in multidistrict litigation involving companies such as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, and pursue intellectual property enforcement for technology firms including Apple, Microsoft, and Intel. The firm also provides regulatory counseling addressing rules from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and foreign regulators including European Commission competition authorities.

Notable cases and clients

Weil has been counsel in high‑profile matters including major corporate restructurings, creditor committees in insolvencies like Lehman Brothers, and creditor representations in cases involving Chrysler and General Motors. The firm advised on mergers involving American Airlines and US Airways, transactions for ExxonMobil, and cross‑border deals with energy companies like BP and Royal Dutch Shell. Weil litigators have represented clients against allegations connected to Enron and WorldCom securities litigation, defended banks such as Bank of America in mortgage‑backed securities disputes, and worked on antitrust matters touching corporations like Google, Microsoft, and AT&T. The firm has served sovereign and quasi‑sovereign clients in arbitration alongside institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and represented private equity sponsors on transactions with firms including Permira, Apollo Global Management, and TPG Capital.

Offices and global presence

The firm’s headquarters are in New York City and Weil operates offices across North America, Europe, and Asia, with established practices in cities such as Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Los Angeles, Dallas, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. These locations enable cross‑jurisdictional teams to coordinate matters involving multinational clients like Siemens, Huawei, Samsung, and Sony, and to engage with regional regulators including Bank of England and European Central Bank on financial law issues.

Leadership and organization

Weil is organized with practice group leaders overseeing sectors such as bankruptcy, corporate finance, litigation, tax, and intellectual property, and with an executive committee and managing partner guiding firm strategy. Senior partners and former leaders have included alumni who moved into judiciary roles or corporate general counsel positions at firms such as Time Warner, ViacomCBS, and General Motors. The firm invests in professional development connecting junior lawyers with mentors and rotational experiences in groups that collaborate with external advisors including major accounting firms like Deloitte, PwC, and Ernst & Young.

Awards and recognition

Weil has received rankings and awards from legal industry publications and organizations, including high placements in league tables for bankruptcy and restructuring from outlets like American Lawyer and recognition by institutions such as Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500. The firm’s lawyers have earned individual honors including listings in Best Lawyers and recognition by the International Insolvency Institute for contributions to insolvency jurisprudence. Weil teams have been named in deal‑of‑the‑year and litigation awards alongside corporate transactions involving companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Tesla, and Verizon.

Category:Law firms