{"id":162658,"date":"2026-09-11T12:26:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T20:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/11\/weils-corporate-chair-decamps-for-cravath-which-weil-would-like-you-to-know-is-a-smaller-platform\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T12:26:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T20:26:55","slug":"weils-corporate-chair-decamps-for-cravath-which-weil-would-like-you-to-know-is-a-smaller-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/11\/weils-corporate-chair-decamps-for-cravath-which-weil-would-like-you-to-know-is-a-smaller-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"Weil\u2019s Corporate Chair Decamps For Cravath, Which Weil Would Like You To Know Is \u2018A Smaller Platform\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Aiello, chair of Weil, Gotshal & Manges\u2019s roughly 600-lawyer corporate department, member of its management committee, and a powerhouse in the indistry, is leaving for Cravath, Swaine & Moore<\/a>. He is not going alone \u2014 Aiello is bringing a team of M&A partners with him, including corporate co-head Matt Gilroy, in a group reported to be around a half-dozen strong.<\/p>\n

By any measure, that is a big loss. Aiello is one of the most sought-after dealmakers in the country, and losing your corporate chair and a chunk of his practice group in a single raid is the kind of thing that reshuffles a firm\u2019s internal power structure whether it admits it or not.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the statements.<\/p>\n

Cravath\u2019s is a model of gracious recruiting. \u201cI\u2019ve known Mike Aiello for many years, and he and his team are extraordinarily talented M&A advisors and a unique fit within our culture,\u201d presiding partner Faiza Saeed said, going on to praise their belief in collaboration, client service, and \u201cthe values that have long defined Cravath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weil\u2019s statement is\u2026 well, let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike Aiello and his team have informed us that they are leaving the firm for a smaller platform,\u201d the firm said. \u201cWeil has long believed that an ambitious growth strategy is in the firm\u2019s best interest and intends to accelerate execution of that strategy going forward. We thank Mike and his team for their contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing Cravath as a smaller platform<\/em> is a choice. <\/p>\n

Sure, Cravath has fewer lawyers than Weil\u2026 but it\u2019s still fucking Cravath. Cravath is the white-shoe standard-bearer, the firm so central to Biglaw that the industry\u2019s associate pay benchmark is literally called the Cravath scale (despite Milbank\u2019s best efforts on that front<\/a>) \u2014 the scale Weil\u2019s own associates are paid on. Shading them as a lesser platform<\/em> is wild.<\/p>\n

Weil has an aggressive lateral strategy, the firm added 51 lateral partners since the start of last year<\/a>. In a market where firms are dangling multi-year guarantees<\/a> to chase $40 million rainmakers<\/a>, Weil is on a genuinely ambitious growth path. And perhaps the rapid expansion is part of the relevant backdrop that helped motivate the departure \u2014 I don\u2019t know. But I definitely<\/em> know snark when I read it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Weil\u2019s Corporate Chair Decamps For Cravath, Which Weil Would Like You To Know Is \u2018A Smaller Platform\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Yikes,<\/figure>\n

Michael Aiello, chair of Weil, Gotshal & Manges\u2019s roughly 600-lawyer corporate department, member of its management committee, and a powerhouse in the indistry, is leaving for Cravath, Swaine & Moore<\/a>. He is not going alone \u2014 Aiello is bringing a team of M&A partners with him, including corporate co-head Matt Gilroy, in a group reported to be around a half-dozen strong.<\/p>\n

By any measure, that is a big loss. Aiello is one of the most sought-after dealmakers in the country, and losing your corporate chair and a chunk of his practice group in a single raid is the kind of thing that reshuffles a firm\u2019s internal power structure whether it admits it or not.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the statements.<\/p>\n

Cravath\u2019s is a model of gracious recruiting. \u201cI\u2019ve known Mike Aiello for many years, and he and his team are extraordinarily talented M&A advisors and a unique fit within our culture,\u201d presiding partner Faiza Saeed said, going on to praise their belief in collaboration, client service, and \u201cthe values that have long defined Cravath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weil\u2019s statement is\u2026 well, let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike Aiello and his team have informed us that they are leaving the firm for a smaller platform,\u201d the firm said. \u201cWeil has long believed that an ambitious growth strategy is in the firm\u2019s best interest and intends to accelerate execution of that strategy going forward. We thank Mike and his team for their contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing Cravath as a smaller platform<\/em> is a choice. <\/p>\n

Sure, Cravath has fewer lawyers than Weil\u2026 but it\u2019s still fucking Cravath. Cravath is the white-shoe standard-bearer, the firm so central to Biglaw that the industry\u2019s associate pay benchmark is literally called the Cravath scale (despite Milbank\u2019s best efforts on that front<\/a>) \u2014 the scale Weil\u2019s own associates are paid on. Shading them as a lesser platform<\/em> is wild.<\/p>\n

Weil has an aggressive lateral strategy, the firm added 51 lateral partners since the start of last year<\/a>. In a market where firms are dangling multi-year guarantees<\/a> to chase $40 million rainmakers<\/a>, Weil is on a genuinely ambitious growth path. And perhaps the rapid expansion is part of the relevant backdrop that helped motivate the departure \u2014 I don\u2019t know. But I definitely<\/em> know snark when I read it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Aiello, chair of Weil, Gotshal & Manges\u2019s roughly 600-lawyer corporate department, member of its management committee, and a powerhouse in the indistry, is leaving for Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He is not going alone \u2014 Aiello is bringing a team of M&A partners with him, including corporate co-head Matt Gilroy, in a group reported […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":162637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162658","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=162658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}