What's Going on at White & Case?

Law firm partners come and go, but lately it seems that an unusually high number of them have been going away from White & Case.

Last month, over a dozen partners left WC’s London office for Latham & Watkins. In response, White & Case redeployed key partners, several of them from New York, to shore up certain overseas offices.

But the firm is losing some talent on the domestic side too. Says a source:

I know you’ve covered White & Case Palo Alto before. You mentioned the parking lot fiasco and, more recently, covered the defection of three partners from White & Case to Cooley Godward.

Well, they’ve lost a couple more partners. Last month, Jeff Washenko left, apparently for Morrison & Foerster (although he’s still not listed on the MoFo website).

More recently, Bill Coats left to join Kaye Scholer. This makes five partners who’ve left within the past few months. The office only has three partners left.

(The link to the Palo Alto office lists a few partners with two offices. But the only ones who actually use Palo Alto as their main office are Warren Heit, Bijal Vakil, and Jennifer Yokoyama.)

A second tipster’s take on the Palo Alto situation, plus comment from the firm, after the jump.

A different source offered this blunt assessment of the Palo Alto situation:

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Palo Alto is now officially dead — the other top partners have already left (to Cooley). Basically, there are a handful of associates and a paralegal there now.

Is a larger pattern emerging at White & Case? This tipster thinks so:

White & Case has recently lost the head of every Middle East office, its London finance group, the head of global IT, head of global metals, top antitrust attorney in NY, etc.
Essentially, W&C offices don’t work together AT ALL (for example, wouldn’t it make sense to do some China work out of Palo Alto to keep the office alive??).
Anyway, expect more departures soon. If you speak to any legal recruiter in Europe, you will hear that W&C resumes are flooding the market.

We reached out to White & Case for comment. A firm spokesperson discounted the significance of the U.K. and Middle East departures:

The departures are regrettable, but they do not change our commitment to our London Bank Finance and Middle East practices. We intend to use this opportunity to rebuild those practices so they are even stronger and more integrated within the Firm.

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(We discussed some of the steps the firm has taken in response to the departures back in this post.)

Meanwhile, with respect to Palo Alto:

[W]e have a dynamic IP group with lawyers in the United States, Europe, and Asia who do important work for important clients. Our IP group continues to grow, and we have promoted talented associates to partner this year to meet the client demand. Palo Alto is an important strategic office for the firm and our clients, and you should expect to see our office grow in the near future.

In addition, the spokesperson noted that the firm continues to hire away talent from other firms. For example, W&C recently expanded its restructuring and insolvency practice by bringing in Christian Pilkington as a partner in London. (Pilkington, who looks like a dashing chap, was formerly counsel at Skadden.)

If you have any insider info about what’s going on at White & Case — or any other major law firm, for that matter — you know where to reach us.

Silicon Valley Moves: Kaye Scholer Opens Office, Wilmer Partner Heads to DLA [The Recorder]
Lawyer Moves Herald Lateral Season [The Recorder]
Earlier: Musical Chairs: White & Case Regroups After Latham Raid
Musical Chairs: White & Case Loses Lawyers to Latham in London