Paul, Weiss Rival Kirkland & Ellis as Kingmaker: Then, Partners Tend to Go On to Continue to Reign Elsewhere

It happened again. Another Kirkland & Ellis partner leaves, poached by another law frm. This time it's private equity M&A expert Nick Appleton. He joins Simpson's London Office in corporate.

Depending on how the counting is done, 13 to 16 partners from K&E's London office went to work for Paul, Weiss. The raids were high-profile.

And, among the 200 who made partner at K&E in 2024 about 10% left. For the 2023 204 partner class 21% left. 

This year, K&E didn't disclose the number of new partners. That eliminates calculations of what percentage will be gone in a year or two.

Recently there was reported K&E partner flight from the Greater China offices. The number is estimated to be 10.

No coicindence, K&E changed compensation policy to attempt to penalize too-soon-leavers. Abovethelaw reports:

"While equity partners at the firm already had 55% of their annual compensation deferred until the following year, the new policy allows Kirkland to keep the accrued compensation at the firm’s discretion."

However, as K&E watchers point out, that's no real deterrent. So, the partner just hangs around a little longer, then goes. The money is usually worth the delay before starting another job. Guess K&E wasn't all that clever.

So, if we connect the dots on this one, it can go like this. K&E is a kingmaker. Then that royalty in the legal sector tends to go on to reign in another domain. Some, sooner than later. There's plenty of conjecture that the culture is among the triggers for exiting. K&E alumni I coached felt the assumptions about work in that culture were unique. 

What about PW? 

Sure, post-dealmaking with the Trump administration it had lost some partners, primarily in litigation. Quickly, though, it was able to make recruiting moves which overrode that development. For instance, it raided A&O Sherman in antitrust litigation for these three: David Higbee, Ben Gris, and Djordje Petkoski. 

In addition, it stocked the litigation pipeline by hiring about 50 new litigation associates. Partners demand there be an adequate number of associates available to them. As with K&E, litigation has become the fast-growth practice. 

Overall, PW is nimble in resets.

In this era of aggressive poaching the critical job of law firm leadership is to ensure its royalty feels being treated royally. That extends from autonomy to compensation to resources.

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Thrown off your game, maybe the first time since you started working? You made all the right moves and then the world moved in another direction.

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