Biglaw

No More Lunch With The Cool Kids: Biglaw Firm Bans Client From Its Cafeteria

Amid legal dispute, firm takes away longtime client's lunch privileges.

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Investment bank Perella Weinberg has long enjoyed a unique perk for a Biglaw client — access to the firm cafeteria. The arrangement, born out of Parella sharing a GM Building office with Weil, allowed bankers to feast upon the offerings in Weil’s 26th floor lunch spot. But now those privileges have been revoked amid a legal dispute between Parella and Weil over allegations that Weil botched pay packages costing former Parella bankers millions.

You know what they say, “We’ll Get You And Mangle Your Comp Package.”

The whole affair involves pay that wasn’t properly deferred to two Parella bankers who were later fired. They had sued for deferred compensation and Weil allegedly discovered four years after the fact that the deferral hadn’t been handled properly. Now the bank is understandably testy:

Last month, Peter Weinberg, one of the investment bank’s founders, and partner Robert Steele told Weil that it could be fired, according to a person briefed on the conversation.

The “not-so-veiled threat” came after The Post revealed that partners at Weil had botched the pay packages for two former Perella bankers, and had kept the bank in the dark about the mistake for years.

The error could lead to millions of dollars in back taxes, penalties and interest — and finger-pointing about who is responsible for covering the bill.

That’s why the firm pulled the plug on the cafeteria deal. But according to the Post, some people were already questioning the arrangement:

“It’s weird for a law firm to let people be in private spaces unaccompanied, because you have private and confidential concerns,” one former Weil lawyer told The Post. “Especially investment bankers, who know of deals people are on and are competing with.”

I’ve not been to Weil’s cafeteria, so I can’t speak with specificity, but if it’s anything like the Biglaw cafeterias I have seen, the 26th floor is almost certainly a public-facing floor and not one where work gets done. Still, gossiping attorneys could divulge information while waiting in line for a burger, but how many associates are really making small talk during their authorized five-minute trip down to get some food to nervously consume at their desks?

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In fact, it’s not entirely uncommon for clients or opposing counsel to be escorted into the cafeteria so Weil employees should know better than to be spilling the beans on major confidential information anyway. If that’s not a lesson the firm drilled into its people from the beginning, they should do so now, regardless of whether or not Parella gets to hang out there.

Now we’ll have investment bankers who will just have to wait in line at the Cafe Metro like proles. Welcome to Elizabeth Warren’s America!

Law firm Weil Gotshal bans longtime client from its cafeteria [NY Post]
Top law firm Weil Gotshal botched millions in pay for bankers [NY Post]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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