{"id":158785,"date":"2026-07-29T09:38:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/29\/gibson-dunn-snags-wachtell-partners-but-one-planned-lateral-got-literally-figuratively-benched\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T09:38:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:38:44","slug":"gibson-dunn-snags-wachtell-partners-but-one-planned-lateral-got-literally-figuratively-benched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/29\/gibson-dunn-snags-wachtell-partners-but-one-planned-lateral-got-literally-figuratively-benched\/","title":{"rendered":"Gibson Dunn Snags Wachtell Partners\u2026 But One Planned Lateral Got Literally & Figuratively Benched"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gibson Dunn just landed a homerun lateral haul this week, snatching six litigation partners out of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, including executive committee co-chair and litigation co-chair William Savitt, reportedly set in motion<\/a> by a coffee meeting with Gibson Dunn trials co-chair Orin Snyder. Savitt brings Sarah Eddy, Randall Jackson, Ryan McLeod, Anitha Reddy, and Bradley Wilson with him. He\u2019ll co-chair Gibson Dunn\u2019s litigation practice.<\/p>\n

Wachtell generally doesn\u2019t lose partners. Something about the per partner profits figure running north of $12 million keeps people in the fold. So it takes a lot to get these lawyers to cross the road and Gibson Dunn was apparently willing to pay it.<\/p>\n

But the Financial Times<\/a> tucked a more interesting little tidbit into the story \u2014 which we saw in David Lat\u2019s roundup<\/a> \u2014 about how this deal was SUPPOSED to include seven partners:<\/p>\n

\n

The group of defectors would have included Wachtell partner Nathaniel Cullerton, but his hiring was scrapped after he was filmed in a viral TikTok video in an apparent romantic embrace with a colleague last week, the people said. Cullerton had been placed on a leave of absence from Wachtell pending further investigation, some of the people added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So\u2026 we might know what Cullerton and his associate friend were celebrating last week. One wonders if the original deal included bringing her over as an associate. <\/p>\n

To be clear, that video is deeply problematic. Antagonizing strangers and putting it on social media for profit is despicable behavior and the fact that it seems to work is a damning indictment of modernity. We said when it was still a blind item<\/a> that nobody involved covered themselves in glory. After everyone else un-blinded it<\/a>, we noted that content creators who ambush people shouldn\u2019t be handed an audience for it. All of that still holds.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it is newsworthy that a partner got sliced out of a mega deal over this. <\/p>\n

Wachtell is having a rough year. Kirkland pried loose Wachtell\u2019s top restructuring lawyer in April<\/a> with an $80 million package. A former associate also surfaced in May as \u201cCC-2\u201d<\/a> in the Biglaw insider trading indictments. Then Kissgate and a hefty litigation exodus.<\/p>\n

Though Wachtell\u2019s version of \u201crough,\u201d still involves basically printing money over there, so maybe don\u2019t shed too many tears for them.<\/p>\n

Gibson Dunn hires six Wachtell litigation partners<\/a> [Financial Times]
Judicial Notice (07.26.26): Cooked<\/a> [Original Jurisdiction]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Biglaw Partner-Associate Public Makeout Sesh Posted On Social Media<\/a>
Makeout Video Elevates Wachtell To The Internet\u2019s Main Character<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Gibson Dunn Snags Wachtell Partners\u2026 But One Planned Lateral Got Literally & Figuratively Benched<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Gibson Dunn just landed a homerun lateral haul this week, snatching six litigation partners out of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, including executive committee co-chair and litigation co-chair William Savitt, reportedly set in motion<\/a> by a coffee meeting with Gibson Dunn trials co-chair Orin Snyder. Savitt brings Sarah Eddy, Randall Jackson, Ryan McLeod, Anitha Reddy, and Bradley Wilson with him. He\u2019ll co-chair Gibson Dunn\u2019s litigation practice.<\/p>\n

Wachtell generally doesn\u2019t lose partners. Something about the per partner profits figure running north of $12 million keeps people in the fold. So it takes a lot to get these lawyers to cross the road and Gibson Dunn was apparently willing to pay it.<\/p>\n

But the Financial Times<\/a> tucked a more interesting little tidbit into the story \u2014 which we saw in David Lat\u2019s roundup<\/a> \u2014 about how this deal was SUPPOSED to include seven partners:<\/p>\n

\n

The group of defectors would have included Wachtell partner Nathaniel Cullerton, but his hiring was scrapped after he was filmed in a viral TikTok video in an apparent romantic embrace with a colleague last week, the people said. Cullerton had been placed on a leave of absence from Wachtell pending further investigation, some of the people added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So\u2026 we might know what Cullerton and his associate friend were celebrating last week. One wonders if the original deal included bringing her over as an associate. <\/p>\n

To be clear, that video is deeply problematic. Antagonizing strangers and putting it on social media for profit is despicable behavior and the fact that it seems to work is a damning indictment of modernity. We said when it was still a blind item<\/a> that nobody involved covered themselves in glory. After everyone else un-blinded it<\/a>, we noted that content creators who ambush people shouldn\u2019t be handed an audience for it. All of that still holds.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it is newsworthy that a partner got sliced out of a mega deal over this. <\/p>\n

Wachtell is having a rough year. Kirkland pried loose Wachtell\u2019s top restructuring lawyer in April<\/a> with an $80 million package. A former associate also surfaced in May as \u201cCC-2\u201d<\/a> in the Biglaw insider trading indictments. Then Kissgate and a hefty litigation exodus.<\/p>\n

Though Wachtell\u2019s version of \u201crough,\u201d still involves basically printing money over there, so maybe don\u2019t shed too many tears for them.<\/p>\n

Gibson Dunn hires six Wachtell litigation partners<\/a> [Financial Times]
Judicial Notice (07.26.26): Cooked<\/a> [Original Jurisdiction]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Biglaw Partner-Associate Public Makeout Sesh Posted On Social Media<\/a>
Makeout Video Elevates Wachtell To The Internet\u2019s Main Character<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gibson Dunn just landed a homerun lateral haul this week, snatching six litigation partners out of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, including executive committee co-chair and litigation co-chair William Savitt, reportedly set in motion by a coffee meeting with Gibson Dunn trials co-chair Orin Snyder. Savitt brings Sarah Eddy, Randall Jackson, Ryan McLeod, Anitha Reddy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":158775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Headshot-300x200-o8mKMH.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}