A Fall Guy in the JPMorgan / Bear Stearns Deal?
That's what our colleagues over at Dealbreaker are reporting. But we just checked in with them, and they don't know whether it was an in-house lawyer at JP Morgan Chase or someone at Wachtell Lipton, JPMorgan's outside counsel on the deal. If you have more details, please email us.
P.S. If you're not familiar with what's going on here, read this earlier ATL post and this earlier Dealbreaker post, which supply the necessary background.
Update: A source at our former firm reports that "everyone at WLRK who worked on JPM/BS is still very much 'with the firm.'" This is consistent with the chatter in the comments, to the effect that the lawyer in question works in-house at JPMorgan Chase.
People Moves: Anyone Need A Lawyer? [Dealbreaker]
Earlier: Wachtell Lipton: Fallible After All?
(9) Comments
Who wants to be first?
first (M&A biglaw lawyer without a job)
sounds a little sketchy...
CEO's and Investment bankers at one of the world's largest banks seem like pretty sophisticated contract parties. Its hard for me to blame the lawyers.
Maybe the in-house attorneys or Wachtell should have foreseen or predicted that the shareholder's might veto the deal.... or maybe not. Its hard to say what exactly happened here. Texaco v. Pennzoil, this is not.
With the economy teetering on the brink, the threat of bankruptcy, the Federal Reserve breathing down their necks, and untold billions in counterparty and mortgage liabilities on the line, I imagine the shareholders weren't the number one thing on everybody's mind. What a weird, once-in-a lifetime kind of deal though.
Man, I wish I was in on it
From what I've heard, the lawyer taking the hit is Steve Cutler, JPM's general counsel. Obviously a client couldn't demand that a Wachtell lawyer resign, nor does it seem likely that the firm would fire someone over---at worst---a mistake that arose in the course of signing up a deal in two days, when an equivalent deal would normally take weeks.
Guys at my high school used to inadvertently guarantee liabilities even if a deal didn't go through all the time, it was no big deal.
--Obligatory FRAT STUD
3:56 - I really wish I was in on it, too. It beats the hell out of the BS with which I've been filling my time during the past few months. If you're still actually doing something that resembles M&A, consider your self lucky.
They still have Steve Cutler listed on their website as an Exec. Committee member.
What I've heard is Steve Cutler was asked to take a "leave of absence." If that's true, they wouldn't necessarily take him off the website already, even though it wouldn't look good for his long-term employment at JPM. That said, this is, like, fourth-hand hearsay, so take it for what it is.
This is boring.
Surely someone somewhere got fired the same day their third cousin's cat was diagnosed with herpes or something.