As The Weil Turns: Another Private-Equity Partner Parts Ways

Who is leaving which Weil office? Hint: it's one with low morale.

Welcome to today’s episode of everyone’s favorite Biglaw drama, As The Weil Turns. Today brings word of another Weil coming off the wagon — specifically, another partner defection.

And no, it’s not in Texas, where Weil Gotshal’s offices — which have lost about 15 partners in the past few weeks — are starting to feel as besieged as the Alamo. It’s up here in the northeast, closer to WGM’s headquarters in New York.

Who is leaving which Weil office?

(Please note the UPDATES added below regarding where this partner is going.)

It appears that Weil has parted ways with Steven Peck, a corporate partner in the Boston office of Weil. Said a source: “He was a great private equity lawyer and I doubt he was one of the partners who had their comp cut. My guess is that he went to Latham, but that’s just my guess — he has relatively young kids so I’d think he’d be going to another law firm. Back in 2008, Weil fired an entire class of associates in Boston, and some of them ended up at Latham.”

Latham & Watkins would be logical. The firm’s Boston office launched just two years ago, in 2011, and it’s already home to heavy hitters who were poached from other firms. We reached out to Latham for comment but have not yet heard back; if and when we do, we’ll update.

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UPDATE (1:50 p.m.): We’ve been advised that Steven Peck is joining the Boston office of Proskauer, where he “will be helping them build the execution side of their PE practice.”

UPDATE (5:00 p.m.): Latham declined to comment, citing its policy of not commenting on market rumors.

UPDATE (10/9/2013, 11:25 p.m.): Here is the Proskauer press release, “Top-Ranked Private Equity/Buyouts Lawyer Steven Peck Joins Proskauer.”

Interestingly enough, Peck is no longer on Weil’s website. So either the firm is letting him go without fuss or he provided Weil with 60 days’ notice. As noted in an update to our story from yesterday, Sidley’s chair, Carter Phillips, confirmed to Am Law Daily that the nine partners going from Weil to Sidley are being held to the 60-day notice period of the Weil partnership agreement, even though “historically it has always been waived.”

We suspect that Peck won’t be the last lawyer to leave Weil’s Boston outpost, which is suffering from low morale as of late. If you have information about where Steve Peck might be going or about other Weil partner departures, please email us or text us (646-820-8477). Thanks.

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(Flip to the next page for Steven Peck’s bio, which is no longer on the Weil website.)