[A] firm as strong as Cadwalader should make it clear that no firm is dependent on one individual. The embarrassment should primarily belong to the gentleman who left.
— Paula Alvary, a principal with the law firm consultancy Hoffman Alvary & Co., commenting on James Woolery’s abrupt departure from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft to start a hedge fund. Woolery was slated to take over as the firm’s chairman in January 2015, and had been guaranteed at least $8 million annually to join the firm. Cadwalader posted an embarrassing decline in revenue per lawyer (the worst of all Am Law 100 firms in this year’s ranking, in fact), and its profits per partner dropped by 15.3 percent as well.