Weil Gotshal Closes Its Austin Office
Since the recession hit the American economy with full force, Weil Gotshal has received some very high profile work. But it is not immune from the economic problems within the legal industry. The firm recently fired nearly 80 staffers, and in March the firm deferred some of its incoming first years until 2011.
Today brings more unfortunate news for Weil Gotshal employees. According to an internal communication obtained by Above the Law, the firm is closing its office in Austin. One partner, sixteen associates, and eleven staffers will be affected by the move.
The partner, Kevin Kudlac, will be relocating to Weil’s Houston office. All the associates and staff have been offered an opportunity to transfer to one of Weil’s other offices. If they don’t transfer, they’ll receive severance benefits.
Good luck, displaced Texans. I hear Houston is lovely this time of year.
Check out a screen shot of the Weil email after the jump.
Earlier: Staff Layoff Watch: General Motors Won’t Save Weil Staff
Weil Gotshal Almost Sets the Market With Incoming First Year Associate Deferral Dollars
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First to say Texas Sucks!
:'(
Texas does not suck. Austin, in particular, is a really great city. Houston, however, is definitely no Austin...
bones gay
wow
Weil messed with Texas...
Apparently the office has 1 partner, 2 counsel, and 14 associates. 14:1 associate-to-partner ratio. Way to go guys.
I would sleep on the streets of Austin and eat the leftover crusts of slices of Ropolo's Pizza left behind by drunken UT kids on 6th Street before even considering shelter and a paying job in the armpit of Texas.
Kash is counting her millions and sipping Manhattans while we toil away in drudgery.
Once you leave Austin, you're in Texas
7,
I have a feeling that office probably had more partners in the past and they left and/or the firm never had much luck recruiting partners. No firm wants that much leverage. Few partners have enough work.
Actually, Houston is a 100-degree swamp at this time of year.
Weil is a bankruptcy firm. There are so few bankruptcies in Austin, it had to close shop. Six of the top cities for business in the US are in Texas. (Austin, Houston, Dallas, SA, El Paso and Ft. Worth). The Guv was right, Texas should secede. Good luck to the rest of the Obamanation. See how far the likes of Chavez, Hillary, the Castro Twins and the Messiah himself get ya.
3500 sq. ft. a Lexus and a job.
First to say this would never happen in Texas.
What is the source of the "Kash is rich" meme?
Some lit partners left in the last year or so for a smaller Texas firm.
13 - Please secede, I'm begging you. Start the movement; with your undeniable success in life, you'll be a great leader, I know it.
So, no one actually lost a job here? Oh those poor lawyers and their generous relocation stipends. How tough...
12 right before you began typing, did you think, "On the other hand, Elie could have been joking............................NAAAAHHHH!"
Houston has been really hot the last few days - up to 103. It is not Austin heat - we actually have humidity to go with that heat. So it is actually not lovely this time of the year.
goes to show you that high profile bankruptcy work cannot support an entire firm that has litigation and corporate departments that are severely lacking in comparison
12 & 20 - hey dumb fucks. It is universally known that Houston is to be avoided in general, but specifically during the period between the vernal and autumnal equinoctes.
@19, No, I did not. And if you think it was a joke, you're giving Elie too much credit.
--12
Great comment 8
This would never happen in Texas.
12,
It is above 100 and somewhat humid, but somewhat balanced out by the almost complete absence of rain that is causing the water snakes to dessicate.
This news isn't really that bad. So these guys have their pick of office or they HAVE to go to Houston? I think it's pretty classy of Weil to offer these guys relocation. They're basically just getting rid of the overhead of unnecessary real estate.
Texas is the asshole of Oklahoma.
13 - I would welcome the secession... El Paso as a top business city? OK buddy.
The ship be sinking...
12 - giving him too much credit for knowing Houston is insufferably hot and humid during the summer? Jesus, man, that's pretty much common American knowledge. I think its on the citizenship test.
Locke Lord is the new king of Houston. Eat it.
SMU trained patent attorney
Greg Coleman -- the lawyer who would go on to argue and win the New Haven firefighters case in the Supreme Court, and who argued and at least partially won the Voting Rights Act case in the same session -- left the Austin office of Weil on March 26, 2007, to join Yetter & Warden, now Yetter, Warden & Coleman. Without Coleman, Weil had far less reason to be in Austin than when it had Coleman, who had been Solicitor General of Texas immediately before joining Weil in Austin in 2001.
Weil BK associates are too busy to read about their firm closing offices. Can someone please call over there - but not until after 3am or so --- when they have time to pick up the phone...they should know what their hard work is reaping.
Gary Coleman is Greg's brother, which explains a lot about this situation.
What about the attorney layoffs from NY Corp????? Oh, I forgot, Weil is a family. Shove it, Danhauser and Barry Wolf.
What about the attorney layoffs from NY Corp????? Oh, I forgot, Weil is a family. Shove it, Danhauser and Barry Wolf.
-Laid off WGM NY Corp associate
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WGM only laid off its very worst performers. Accept that fact and move on.
How are Weil's other Texas offices? Worth doing bankruptcy there, or is all the action in NYC?
Following the loss of their immigration and banking books, Paul Hastings will be turning off the lights in Atlanta very soon.
Austin is the best city in Texas, but Houston >> NYC.
--Guy who just moved to Houston from NYC
Greg Coleman -- the lawyer who would go on to argue and win the New Haven firefighters case in the Supreme Court, and who argued and at least partially won the Voting Rights Act case in the same session -- left the Austin office of Weil on March 26, 2007, to join Yetter & Warden, now Yetter, Warden & Coleman. Without Coleman, Weil had far less reason to be in Austin than when it had Coleman, who had been Solicitor General of Texas immediately before joining Weil in Austin in 2001.
41: That wouldn't surprise me. We are all waiting for that shoe to drop.
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Give these guys credit. They are not playing around. They are a law firm that thinks business. Well done Mr. Dannhauser.
Yet another classy move by Weil in creatively looking for ways to avoid laying off associates, while many other V-50 firms pay lip service to caring about their associates and making tough decisions (I'm talking Latham, W&C, Proskauer ... )
27 has a point - it may be partly a matter of combining real estate overhead. I thought DLA Piper's Austin office would dissolve before Weil Gotshal's. Maybe it's DLA's Houston office that is supposed to disappear at year's end.
37 -- Sorry about what happened to you, I can definitely share your sentiment. But from what I hear from friends (both in Weil and outside) Weil hasn't really pulled the mass layoff-trigger yet, although they are dishing out some unusually harsh reviews, perhaps in anticipation of layoffs. I have to say that from the sidelines it seems that Weil appears to be pretty fair, unlike some other firms
To people saying that only the "worst performers" have been laid off -- that's B.S. Although every decision generally has a component of performance to it, in reality this is hardly the case. I know at least half a dozen of smart, hardworking associates who were laidoff mainly because they were not given cover by an influential corner office partner, because they had never got a chance to work with one.
49 - you know 6 weil assosciates that this happened to or 6 in general?
hahahha... Weil save us all my ASSSSS
The Austin office was founded to support one partner, who subsequently left. It had no further reason to exist.
No wonder they didn't respond to my multiple submissions of my uberprestigious resume. That was my only shot at working for a V10 in Austin. Now I'm stuck working at a V5 on the west coast. FML, I miss Austin.
Go to the UK or anywhere in Western Europe and when asked where you are from, tell them Austin. They will not know what you are talking about nor will they care. Why? BC it sucks. Austin = Dallas dbaggery with some fabricated big easy culture. FAIL
NOLA ///M STUD