Another Law Firm ‘Survivor’: Meet Charlie Herschel
Things are looking good these days for Weil, Gotshal & Manges. For the sixth year in a row, it made the top 10 of the Vault 100. It took fourth place in the American Lawyer’s A-List rankings, and turned in a strong showing in the magazine’s midlevel associate survey (#11 out of 80+ New York firms).
And Weil attorneys are an interesting crew, too. Some plunge into rapping careers. And some compete on reality shows!
Meet first-year associate Charlie Herschel. He’s a contestant on the latest season of Survivor, premiering on September 25. From his bio:
Charlie Herschel has been a fan of SURVIVOR since the first season and has been training for it ever since. A lawyer for one of the top 10 most prestigious law firms in the world, Herschel is ready to try his persuasion skills on a different type of jury.This 29-year-old, marathon-running attorney and University of Pennsylvania graduate says he is above nothing when he gets to the island. Charlie’s strategy is to be authentic but with a twist. “With high risks, come high rewards, but the risks must be calculated.” The middle son of three boys and a native New Yorker, the Ivy Leaguer is not afraid to claw his way to the top.
If Herschel can survive in the Biglaw jungle, Gabon should be a piece of cake. And there’s precedent for lawyers faring well on Survivor. E.g., Yul Kwon (winner of Survivor: Cook Islands, and a year behind us at YLS).
Now, large law firms can be a bit stodgy. Some don’t react well to their associates’ forays into reality television. See, e.g., David Otunga (from I Love New York 2, and no longer at Sidley); Jeremy Anderson (from The Bachelorette, and no longer at Hunton & Williams). But see Denise Gitsham (welcomed back by K&L Gates, after appearing on The Bachelor); Stacy Rotner (still at Sidley, after appearing on The Apprentice; guess it’s more respectable than I Love New York 2).
What was Weil’s response to Charlie Herschel going on Survivor? Find out — and ogle photos of a shirtless Herschel — after the jump.
Word on the street is that the firm was quite supportive of Herschel’s participation. We hear that he’s now happily back at 767 Fifth Avenue, working away. He still appears on the firm’s website. [FN1]
We reached out to the firm for comment. “He asked us for a leave to participate in an opportunity of this type, and we agreed,” said Mike Ford, spokesperson for Weil Gotshal.
Good luck, Charlie!
P.S. With his incredible good looks, prestigious (and lucrative) Biglaw gig, and freshly minted celebrity, Herschel is quite a catch. But ladies are out of luck. As noted in his contestant bio, “Charlie is a gay, single man.”
P.P.S. Hey Charlie, call us — especially if you won the million bucks…
[FN1] Because law firm websites are arguably attorney advertising, and therefore subject to the ethical rules governing such communications, firms tend to be scrupulous about updating sites to reflect departures. Removal from the firm website is often the first sign that a lawyer has left the building. See, e.g., Aaron Charney and Carlos Spinelli-Noseda.
Charlie Herschel bio [Survivor on CBS]
Charles Herschel [Weil, Gotshal & Manges]
(107) Comments
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He's got nothing on David Ortunga (Punk).
whatever happened to that gal from Season 1 who left WSGR and ended up suing (and being countersued) by CBS?
FIRST!! I am the greatest!
I would have fired him within one second after he asked for leave for a TV show.
HTH.
The things I'd like to do to this boy....
"Some don't well to their associates' forays into reality TV."
Lat, do you edit your own crap anymore?
Weil is the only firm I'm aware of that has a distinct pattern of hiring the most toolish and annoying people from my school. Its actually pretty striking - everyone I know who has summered there is completely full of themselves and obnoxious.
Joe Biden would destroy this guy in Survivor: Weird Haircuts.
For me it reads: "Some don't react well..."
Compare 1:52 with 1:53. That typo got fixed fast.
Lets not forget about Starr Ilzhoefer from Project Runway, Season 1, who is (or was, at least) in the Charlotte office of Cadwalader.
http://www.cadwalader.com/view_attorney.php?attorney=846
9, Lat must've read my comments and changed it. I copied and pasted the quote.
6
What does HTH mean???
Guys at my high school used to get Joe Biden haircuts all the time, it was no big deal.
- FRAT STUD
For a gay dude, he sure does look like he's enjoying being photographed with these women.
I think he has a tan line above his shorts in the first shirtless photo.
A few questions.
He's a first-year associate who's taking a leave of absence? Granted, his motivations are noble, but that doesn't bode well for partnership.
Why does the OP refer to himself using the royal "we"?
Why do they advertise him as a Penn graduate? His JD is from a different school.
ya see....... he don't need no stinkin undershirt!
See, Davis Polk doesn't get ALL the hotties......
17, are you new or something?
HTH means "hope this helps." HTH.
Wait, did Lat just confirm that he's gay?
18 - he's probably wearing a v-neck. HTH.
He looks like Sean William Scott's little brother.
20: Or "something"? Don't treat me like a rookie. Please answer my questions.
"Herschel is ready to try his persuasion skills on a different type of jury."
This is even an even stupier statement than I originally thought considering he's in corporate and a first year.
26: chill out. It's a REALITY SHOW. Their promoters know as much about BigLaw as you know about cloisters in Medieval architecture.
Thank you, 24. I've just bumped up Dude, Where's My Car in my Netflix queue.
26, don't be such a literalist. the media always does cornball things with people's professions in order to make them relatable to the average Joe. I suppose they could have made it more practice area-specific by saying "Charlie's going to do his 'due diligence' in making it to the end of the competition. (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)"
First to say dishonest behavior that is so prevalent on these shows when $1,000,000 is at stake can be a basis for disciplinary proceedings.
i love how he calls himself an "ivy league grad" in his intro video. umm, since when did fordham become part of the ivy league? and if he's referring to his undergrad degree from upenn...sad...
My heirarchy of losers:
LOW= People that are first to comment that have to announce they are first.
Even Lower= People that are second or in this case, THIRD, that say they are first.
29: "Let's just say this psychometrist will 'test' the competition."
i wonder how he'll make his billable hours this year. he must have a gay-mentor/homo-yoda at weil who will fight for him with the partners.
Survivor is a TTT.
I am risking BIGLAW lockstep market pay, no minimum billable hours req, and NYC lockstep market bonus at a V10 firm so I can be on a tired reality show on CBS where the grand prize is still $1 mil (about $600k after tax). I'm brilliant!!
- Charlie Herschel
Can we have some moderation?
Also, I hate to prod, but how did someone who graduated from Fordham sans Honors obtain a Weil position? They're prestigious.
32:
My hierarchy of losers:
LOW= People that comment on other people commenting first
Even Lower= People that comment 32nd and are just flat-out jealous!
Now go watch "Meet the Fockers" and learn from Dustin Hoffman - they do actually give out trophies for 10th place!
Dear 8:
You are kidding right?
Biden is a close second to Donald Trump in the hair department.
This is so gay.
i love how he calls himself an "ivy league grad" in his intro video. umm, since when did fordham become part of the ivy league? and if he's referring to his undergrad degree from penn. st...sad...
Such jealousy and bitterness from these commenters. Jealous of his law firm, jealous of his education, jealous that he is on TV, and bitter about their own failures in life. So sad...
I won't give names or links for obvious reasons, but I'm reading through Weil's website and I'm absolutely dumbfounded by the attractiveness of their lawyers. Many of the graduates from my school look more like A&F models than first-year litigators or corporate types.
Yo bitches... Cut out the catty comments...
Charlie is one of the wittiest, smartest, most interesting, individual and charming people I know. That's how he got his position at Weil, that's why he was selected to participate on this show and that's why Weil wanted to make sure he came back to the firm once the show was over...
Not sure how many of you loser bloggers would have been chosen to (i) work at at top 10 firm or (ii) participate in a top 10 syndicated TV show, but knowing what a quality person Charlie is, I know who I would rather have working as part of my team.
Charlie went to UPenn, not Penn State - which is, in fact, an Ivy.
Weil is the BEST!!!!!
charlie is great.
- 44 (a.k.a. charlie)
Thanks 45. I was going to ask about that. Charlie looks like too much of a pussy to play for Joe Pa but when he said he went to Penn naturally I thought of PennState-Philly and wondered if maybe the picture didn't do him justice. What is UPenn? Is that part of the Pennsylvania State system or a proprietary school?
What a bunch of haters.....Goes to show that Fordham grads not only have the smarts, but also the people skills to be effective in the real world.
The haters on here have never taken a picture with one chick in a bathing suit, let alone three chicks. Again, the charm of the Fordham grads. The only thing you haters have survived is your stint in fat camp and not succumbing to the innate urge to kill yourselves for looking the way you do.
First to suggest Weil let associates watch Survivor tapes in the cafeteria!
44: I have no doubt that he's a shining paragon for what humanity might achieve, but I would expect Weil to screen-reject a Fordham graduate without Honors and/or Law Review. If he was able to overcome that hurdle, then all the more power to him -- I, too, think that school rank and pedigree can be overstated -- but I was curious to hear whether anyone had insight into their hiring practices.
Thank you.
22 -- I think that's the closest that Lat has come to an explicit, public acknowledgment.
48 - your sarcasm is too nuanced for me. are you 1) a UPenn hater, 2) a Penn-State hater, or 3) seriously confused about the distinction and therefore, a TTT toad?
Lat, just mailin' it in these days huh?
And PLEASE stop referring to yourself in the plural. If you want to refer to the site in the plural, because there is more than one person working there, fine. But unless everyone working there was at YLS the same year as you, then Charlie wasn't "a year behind US" (Emphasis added).
Finally, congrats on exiting the closet. I hope it goes well for you.
45 - Penn St. is Ivy. Dumbass.
Weil Gotschal has the most interesting group of gay attorneys in New York. I heard they all travelled (on the firm's dime) to a "retreat" in Miami.
44: If your characterization of him is correct, then they should fire him immediately. BIGLAW is no place for a charming, witty, fun person who appears on reality television. They have to know that he will last a maximum of 3 years and has already demonstrated that he wants to be a TV star.
BIGLAW lifers are boring, self loathing individuals who can't do anything else.
53 - You must be new to the site. Read for a while before you start posting.
He looks like the former mailroom guy in my firm's Bratislava office. Anyone know if he's Slovakian??
Is UPenn St. the one with the Warden School? Top notch place. I think Donald Trump went there.
55 - Penn St. isn't Penn, Dumbass.
2:47 - The haters aren't "bloggers," they are "commenters." The blogger - Lat - is a fan of Charlie.
All you a$$hats who keep talking about Penn State are just that -- a$$hats. Pennsylvania is NOT a state. It is, in fact, a COMMONWEALTH. I know that because I lived there. Plus, I had sex with Ed Rendell, who went to UPenn's Philadelphia campus.
56 - the retreat was in the Boston office. each affinity group at Weil has a retreat every two years to discuss planning and recruiting
Guys in my commonwealth used to have sex with Ed Rendell all the time, it was no big deal.
This is SO not a big deal. A guy in my firm's Bratislava office was on Slavic Idol last year..
Needs many many smacks just for the hair alone. Cannot. Take. Seriously.
Looks like nothing more than Gay GULC material to me.
I hear cadwalader sean is single
Paul Hastings Suzy is available as a surrogate mother if he needs her services.
Why is this guy bragging about going to UPenn? They won't finish higher than 4th in the Big Ten this year.
"Herschel is ready to try his persuasion skills on a different type of jury."
lol at what the public thinks junior biglaw lawyers do
See also Tim Hudson, who was welcomed back at Jenner after taking a leave to appear of Richard Branson's reality show.
Cadwalader sean and Paul hastings suzy? Didn't she once work at cadwalader too?
What? No mention of Eliza Orlins?
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor16/bio/eliza/bio.php
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor9/survivors/bios/eliza.shtml
BTW, Eliza's also Fordham.
A first year associate at age 29? Isn't that a little old? I got out of lawschool at 25 and that was due to 5 years undergrad.
Haha 72 - so right!
Hershel is ready to try to translate his skills creating semi-meaningful tag groups in Concordance on a different type of audience.
Wishing I was a Weil gay....
Started at the Mumbai Office of Skadden and made partner by the time I was 29.
F*@kin slacker. Go back to GULC, tool.
CBS makes up those stupid lines. he wouldn't say that about the jury
Wishing I was the bathing suit on the cutie on the far left in the last pic...
17, you suck. Get off this site. You must be a GULC graduate. I am sorry for your horrific loss.
I'd like a Herschtickel of that ass.
There are a lot of haters on this board right now. Yes, we are old. If you were single, or ever went to a bar, you would realize that girls under the age of 30 LOVE guys who look like they came from a casting call for a Dawson's Creek episode in 1999.
May look gay to us, but so does techno, and you can't go an hour at any hotspot in any city without hearing that nonsense.
LOL 85 - you really dated yourself with use of the term "techno."
86 -
What do the kids call it today? It's all techno, whether it be house, trance, drums and bass (fucking retarded names for genres of techno, by the way).
Or do the kids have some new spin on what to call that crap?
They call it GULC music.
Why can't the guys in Bratislava look like him??
guys from fordham are queers. guys from penn have girlfriends that f@ck other guys.
guys from fordham are queers. guys from penn have girlfriends that f@ck other guys.
guys from fordham are queers. guys from penn have girlfriends that f@ck other guys.
So much for their recuiting department. Anyone who has been a fan of Survivor, ever, has no taste, no judgment, and no future. Anyone who appears on Survivor has no selfrespect and no respect for working actors, directors or writers.
How'd the recruiting department fuck this one up?
cadwalader sean graduated from fordham (twice)
FIRST attractive female here to say that guy is one hot piece of ass!
too many haters
Starr from Project Runway was actually a Jones Day lawyer when she was on the show.
22, 52, 54: wasn't UTR the first sign he was out of the closet?
34 - how will you make your billable hours posting dumb $hit on a blog all day.
i see you, hi haters...
OMG SO F-ING HOT
He is ADORABLE! I'd tap that.
so, is he gay or is the jury still out? He's too damn hot to be straight. look at that perfect hair
Of course he's gay. Read Lat's "P.S." (and also Charlie's Survivor bio).
hey morons who are obviously not ivy-league material. he's a upenn graduate. ivy-league is more important at the undergraduate level than at the law school level and you know it.
hey morons who are obviously not ivy-league material. he's a upenn graduate. ivy-league is more important at the undergraduate level than at the law school level and you know it.
hey morons who are obviously not ivy-league material. he's a upenn graduate. ivy-league is more important at the undergraduate level than at the law school level and you know it.